Although it was only installed in May 2004, the Nikon Coolscope in the National CJD Surveillance Unit in Edinburgh has already established a key role for itself
According to Professor James Ironside, the unit's director: "At times it is used eight hours a day by PhD students and visiting research scientists to record the results of their work".
By integrating the combined microscope and digital camera system into the unit's computer network, images,once they have been acquired, can be accessed by staff from their own laboratories.
This leaves the Coolscope free to acquire yet more images.
Part of its popularity has been its 'click and capture' mode of operation and quality of its optics. "Initially, some members of staff were a bit reluctant to load their precious samples into a machine, rather than place them on a microscope stage, but once they saw the quality of the on-screen images, they became instant converts", said Professor Ironside.
"The quality of the original image is of paramount importance, since it dictates the amount of reliable information we can glean via our image analysis software". Professor Ironside has yet to explore the potential to control the Coolscope by remote control, but hopes to put it through its paces in the near future.
The Coolscope combines a microscope and a digital camera in one compact unit.
It has no eyepieces - images are displayed on a screen.
Once an area of interest has been selected, it can be captured with the click of a mouse.
