Olympus BX-41 Upright Microscope

The Olympus BX-41 is and upright microscope that can be used with transmitted light for bright field, phase contrast and darkfield observation. It is also fitted for reflected epi-fluorescence work. The microscope has magnifications of 4, 10, 20, 40, 60 and 100 power. Both the transmitted light and epi-fluorescence can be captured using the Olympus DP80 camera with cellSens image capture software.

The Olympus BX41 is equipped with the following objectives:

• 60x PlanApoN 1.42 Oil
• 100x Olympus Plan 1.25 Oil
• 4x Plan 0.10
• 10x PLAN 0.25
• 20x UPlanSApo 0.75
• 40x UPlanFLN 0.75

The Olympus BX41 is also equipped for epi-fluorescence. The Microscope contains 3 filter sets optimized for DAPI, FITC and TRITC.

• Position 2: DAPI: Cat # 31000 - More information here.
• Position 3: FITC: Cat # 41001 HQ: FITC - More information here.
• Position 4: TRITC: Cat# 41002B - HQ:R/DiI

Access

Access to the BX-41 microscope is restricted to individuals who have been trained in its use. Training can be conducted by a faculty member or by the staff of the IQ Center. If a faculty member trains you, they must request access to the room on your behalf. This may take up to 48 hours.

Training in the IQ Center

Please read the manual first. Make an appointment for training with David Pfaff; training will take about one hour. You will then be given provisional access to the microscope when the coordinator is on site. When comfortable with the microscope, you can perform a proficiency evaluation.

During the proficiency evaluation you will be asked to perform the following:

• Setup Kohler Illumination for transmitted light observation.
• Insert a sample slide
• Brightfield observation
• Phase contrast and darkfield observation
• Capture brightfield images
• Reflected fluorescence observation.
• Capture reflected fluorescence images

After the proficiency evaluation you will be given access to the room and permission to reserve the instrument after hours.