The “IR and Raman imaging” facility provides a set of integrated markers, based on organic molecules, biomacromolecules and inorganic trace elements, able to describe bio-samples beyond the morphological details and to assess the fundamental traits of the molecular pathways affected by the host-pathogen interaction.
Infrared and Ultraviolet Resonance Raman imaging techniques (IR and UVRR respectively) allow retrieving from a single spectrum complementary information intersecting omic and structural sample domains: overall macromolecular profile of the sample, fine details on protein secondary structure, lipidic composition and membrane fluidity, DNA fragmentation and unfolding, and many others.
It is an innovative station for multi-wavelengths deep-UV Resonance Raman (UVRR) biomolecular imaging. A straight confocal microscope with the possibility of transmitted and reflected illumination and sample viewing camera in the UV range is coupled with the multi-wavelength UVRR spectrometer of the Beamline IUVS of Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste. The UVRR microscopy station can analyse biological cell/tissue specimens efficiently and quickly by generating chemical sample maps with a mapping field smaller than 1x1 μm2. Depending on users’ specific requirements , the microscopy end-station can be available both online (light provided by synchrotron radiation) and offline.
📍 The “UV Resonant Raman imaging” facility is located at the IUVS Beamline at Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste in Area Science Park.
It is made of two independent and fully optimized stations: an IR microscope for IR histology, and an IR microscope with synchrotron radiation for IR cytology. The two stations can work in parallel and support remote-user operation.
📍 The “Micro IR imaging” facility is located at the SISSI Beamline at Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste in Area Science Park.
It is an imaging station at sub-micrometric lateral resolution based on the Optical Photothermal Infrared (O-PTIR) breakthrough technology. O-PTIR is a novel pump-probe spectroscopy technique, based on an infrared pump, that induces photothermal effects into a sample. The use of wavelength matching vibrational transition and a visible probe laser focused on the sample, provide chemical imaging with spatial resolution wavelength-independent in the range of few hundred nanometers. Sub-Micro IR imaging represents the ideal bridge between upper-middle spatial resolution and fast-imaging capabilities.
📍 The “Sub-Micro IR imaging” facility is located at the SISSI Beamline at Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste in Area Science Park.
It is a scattering-type near-field scanning optical microscope (s-SNOM) that combines atomic force microscopy (AFM) with FTIR spectroscopy, allowing FTIR spectroscopy with a lateral resolution of few dozens nanometers.
📍 The “Nano IR imaging” facility is located at the SISSI Beamline at Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste in Area Science Park.