dotSlide in Research |
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 Archiving rare and valuable
biological sections
Sharing specimen via the web for
discussion, presentation or
teleconferencing
Building online databases for
students education
Setting up application-oriented
reference databases |
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dotSlide in Research
Life science research has relied heavily on advances in microscopy to move our knowledge forward. The dotSlide system represents such a step forward, offering excellent throughput for extensive image analysis and superb documentation of tissue sections, cell cultures and even tissue microarrays.
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 Takeaway
Tissue microarrays
Multifunction
Specialised analysis
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Takeaway
Selection of participants and
images to be discussed for
online conferences |
Increased efficiency
Microscopy has advanced rapidly over the last few years in terms of the microscope hardware and the techniques used to produce contrast or markers developed to identify molecules, organelles and cell types. Today, we have a much more accurate way of investigating cellular and bimolecular processes. Many experiments use multiple sections of a sample to show the distribution of a certain molecule. Analysing these can take up many hours of the researcher’s time and block the microscope for other users. By scanning the sections on the dotSlide system, the researcher can view their slide away from the microscope and even perform analysis using dedicated imaging software. |
Online conferencing in real time, location-independent |
Global discussion
Due to the unique way the dotSlide images are stored and transmitted, a researcher can invite the rest of their group to view slides of interest, either individually or as a group, whether they are in the same building or situated around the world. The virtual facility offers controllable access for the user, such that with the correct permissions, they can add and edit files. The system is designed to only transmit the amount of data required to provide the desired view and is therefore very quick. The Conference tool window allows a moderator to set up a conference so that all invited clients can see and discuss what the speaker is showing, plus it also records every aspect of the conference, such as the participants’ names, notes and annotations. |
Tissue microarrays
Selection or exclusion of TMA
cores for scanning with
minimum effort*
Gallery view and multi-image
display*
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Tissue microarrays
The ‘microarray’ concept is rapidly developing, giving both high throughput and high content for all molecular ‘-omes’ such as the genome, proteome and metabolome. Arrays are a very cost-efficient way of running highly statistically relevant investigations and, importantly, the array principle applies just as well to tissue samples, known as tissue microarrays (TMAs). TMAs consist of many small tissue cores with a defined diameter that are fixed on a single object carrier. With TMAs, researchers have a powerful way of preparing and staining thousands of different tissue samples under the same conditions and analysing them at once. This has made them an increasingly important and efficient tool for molecular biological research, pharmaceutical drug discovery, gene expression and therapeutic antibody research. The functionality of the dotSlide system can be expanded with a dedicated TMA module, facilitating acquisition and simple analysis of tissue microarrays. This module enables documentation of each core separately, accurately recording its slide and core reference for traceability.
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*Images courtesy of Universitätsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein, Institut für Pathologie,
Prof. Dr. med. A.C. Feller |
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Multifunction
The dotSlide system comprises a research-level microscope with a colour-perfect digital camera and advanced software, making it a platform with great flexibility, which allows the addition of a range of accessories, from new objectives to fluorescence illumination units.
Specialised analysis
The dotSlide software enables simple measurements such as perimeters, distances and areas without the need for scaling. With additional software tools, a number of analysis functions are available to aid in the rapid investigation of the virtual slides. For example, the cell* family of software can perform phase analysis to automatically calculate the share of specific tissue types or to identify structures according to a series of criteria such as size, shape and intensity.
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