THUNDER Imager Cell

Automate your 3D cell culture assays to study next-generation disease models efficiently. THUNDER enables you to image large sample volumes, such as lung organoids, at high speed. In addition, the automation minimizes user interaction even for complex experiments.

The outcome is:

• precise and reliable data in less time
• higher throughput
• improved analysis results for more reliable data

THUNDER offers a range of solutions that allow you to acquire blur-free images of 3D samples with a single image. 

This allows you to rapidly image over large areas, or at speeds of over 100 fps, at low light levels for physiologically relevant conditions, and gives you the freedom to set up a wide range of experiments.

Whether you are looking for a dedicated high-end imaging system that excels in a given application, or a versatile solution for a lab running different kinds of assays with various samples, we’ve got you covered.

Here are some selected application examples that show you the strengths of THUNDER:

Quantitative approaches to retina imaging analysis often require comprehensive descriptions of the retina morphology and function. Retina abnormalities as well as translational clinical applications need a reliable workflow to reproduce the transgenic target screening. Therefore, repetitive imaging of the morphology requires a system solution with accurate results which can be constantly reproduced. With the THUNDER Imager Cell you are able to clearly visualize the morphology and reliable count intracellular details, like single cell nuclei distribution in the retina.

With a THUNDER Imager Cell you have these advantages

• Immediate blur removal helps you visualize more intracellular details
• More utilizable depth with widefield approach
• Reliable quantification
• Ready-to-use for your particular workflow analysis

Brain organoids as novel model systems are used to investigate human brain development and disorders. These self-assembled 3-dimensional cytoarchitectures are often characterized via multiple transgenic marker imaging. Classical challenges in these workflows are quantifying dynamics of molecules in time besides keeping physiological conditions and reaching sample depth at low signal levels. Therefore, the THUNDER Imager Cell is suitable to study the development of organoids close to physiological conditions, as our LED light sources help to minimize photobleaching. Furthermore, the timed detection of even though low protein signal levels is possible without the need to change the carrier.

With a THUNDER Imager Cell you have these advantages

• Possibility to observe your specimens in plastic bottom dishes makes your workflow more efficient
• Capacity to detect low signals of molecules with high QE camera
• Low bleaching and low sample perturbance with widefield approach and precise timed LED illumination

Explant cell cultures are oftentimes difficult to conduct imaging experiments with, as they require a stable cell culture environment and low-phototoxic imaging conditions. This example of explant cell culture imaging from Dr. Laura Shankman at the University of Virginia shows how abdominal aorta cells were able to be stably imaged over a 48 hour period. The THUNDER Imager Cell provides a complete microscopy imaging system for minimally invasive and precise live cell imaging experimentation. Sensitive cell culture experiments can be efficiently conducted thanks to fast and High-Quantum-Efficiency camera options, accurate stages, tunable LED light sources, Computational Clearing to reduce out-of-focus blur in widefield images, and an easy to use LAS X software to automate imaging and analysis workflows.

Advantages of the THUNDER Imager Cell

• Accurate live cell imaging experimentation allows tracking of fast cell movements
• Low phototoxicity keep sensitive cell culture alive, even in long-term experiments
• Speed-up your live-cell imaging workflow up to automated quantification and analysis

THUNDER Imager Cell offers both speed and reliability for your 3D cell culture multiwell experiments. For example, when tracking development of organoids, the system's speed and reliability allows you to obtain excellent results.

Accurate multi-position time-lapse experiments are aided by:

• Reliable focus drift correction with the Adaptive Focus Control (AFC)
• Software autofocus that compensates for changes in specimen position
• Reproducible Z-positioning with a precision of up to 20 nm (closed-loop focus)

The hardware triggered Quantum Stage moves rapidly and accurately to all positions with excellent repeatability (< ±0.25 µm).

Live cells contain a range of dynamic processes that require a system that can capture data with high temporal resolutions.

THUNDER Imagers only require a single fluorescence image to produce deblurred data. With THUNDER, you are only limited by the speed of your camera. THUNDER Imagers are offered with a range of cameras including the Teledyne Kinetix 22 allowing you to acquire data over 500 frames per second.