Wade J. Sigurdson, Ph.D. [http://www.smbs.buffalo.edu/confocal/]

Confocal Microscopy and 3-D Imaging Facility
Department Of Physiology And Biophysics
University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
404 Biomedical Research Building
Phone: (716) 829-2738
Email: wjs@buffalo.edu

Dr. Sigurdson is the Director of the Confocal Microscope and 3D Imaging Facility within the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.  This is the primary core facility supplying optical microscopy services for the UB biomedical research community.  The facility is a rich training ground for students.  The facility contains a Bio-Rad MRC-1024 laser scanning confocal microscope attached to Nikon upright and inverted microscopes.  The system is capable of simultaneous imaging of three emission wavelengths and transmitted light imaging.  A microscope incubator and temperature controller is also available for live-cell imaging.  Zeiss Axioplan and Nikon FXA wide-field fluorescent microscopes are also available for bright field, DIC and phase contrast imaging complete with cooled-CCD cameras.  Image analysis and volume rendering software allow 3D reconstruction of subcellular structures.  The facility also offers flow cytometry services, which are provided by Becton-Dickinson FACSCalibur and FACStar Plus flow cytometers.  The FACSCalibur is a four-color instrument with batch loader capability and the recently installed FACStar Plus is capable of 3 color sorting.  Cell Quest, WinMDI and WinList are used for analysis of sort data. Dr. Ray Kelleher supervises the flow cytometry part of the facility.

Students and research associates receive intensive training on the various instruments via workshops or on an as needed basis.  A significant portion of the Director’s time is spent advising principal investigators and students in the proper design of experiments that take of best advantage of the instruments within the facility.