Olympus BX-50 Upright Microscope

The Olympus BX-50 is an upright microscope that can be used with transmitted light for bright field, phase contrast and darkfield observation and DIC capability. It is also fitted for reflected epi-fluorescence work. The microscope has magnifications of 2, 4, 10, 20 and 40 power. Both the transmitted light and epi-fluorescence can be captured using the Olympus DP74 camera with cellSens image capture software with Cell Count Module.

The Olympus BX50 is equipped with the following objectives:

• 2x PLAN N 0.06
• 4x Plan 0.13
• 10x UPLANFL 0.30
• 20x UPlanSApo 0.80
• 40x UPlanXApo 0.95

The Olympus BX50 is also equipped for epi-fluorescence. The Microscope contains 3 filter sets optimized for DAPI, FITC and TRITC.

• Position WU: DAPI: Cat # 31000V2 - More information here.
• Position WB: GFP/FITC: Cat # 41001 HQ: F - More information here.
• Position WG: TRITC: Cat# 41002C - R NBX - More information here.

Access

Access to the BX-50 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.