University of Calgary - Advanced Contract Award Notice / Notice of Proposed Procurement - High Throughput Super-Resolution Live Cell Imaging System

The University of Calgary intends to purchase the Celldiscover 7 high performance, closed-box, automated imaging system with LSM 900 confocal deconvolution and Airyscan2 from Carl Zeiss Canada Ltd. This system is required for the study of cultured cells, 3D cell cultures and small model organisms. It is necessary to purchase this Carl Zeiss system to continue the lab’s long-term experiments using existing protocols and the same software environment, to ensure continuity in data analyses, comparison and produce reliable, publishable, research results. To the research team’s knowledge, this is the only high resolution 3D automated microscope system that can fulfill the consistency and compatibility requirements and also has technical capabilities required for studies. Two crucial technical capabilities that are unique and suitable for the labs research include its optical concept which to the labs knowledge is unique to the Carl Zeiss system and the integration of a hardware-based super-resolution point scanning confocal system. The environmental controls and dispensing unit are unique features of this system allowing the research team to conduct more complex yeast high throughput screens. For example, the Celldiscoverer 7, with its ability to shift temperature during a time course will enable the lab to conduct screens on thermosensitive strains (25℃ to 37℃ range). The sensitivity of the platform will allow the lab to perform high throughput microscopy using low signal bimolecular fluorescence complementation below the detection limit of previous instruments. More details are included in the Advance Contract Award Notice document.