Always in Focus

Abstract

Particularly, long-term experiments in live-cell imaging are often impaired or only possible to limited extent as a result of drifting in Z accompanied by the loss of the original observation plane. The primary reason for this is the mechanical expansion of the components in the heat-up phase. Definite Focus from Carl Zeiss is able to rapidly compensate for this drifting. This is achieved by continuous monitoring of the distance between the objective and the culture vessel by means of infrared light and a corresponding correction in case of deviations. Definite Focus overcomes the disadvantages of previous approaches to drift reduction and additionally allows novel experiments, which e.g., require rapid temperature change.