About
The Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM) Image Centre is located in a suite of rooms on the veterinary college’s second floor, with the main lab located in Room 2208.
We are a fee-for-service facility and provide electron and light microscopy services. The Image Centre has two dedicated technicians who maintain the scopes and work with researchers who are using this facility.
The centre's technicians can help you with the following:
- assist with your grant applications
- discuss the capabilities of the available equipment
- help you plan your sampling protocols to optimize your results
- fix your samples
- prepare your samples for the microscope
- help show you how to use the scopes to do your own work or to do the work for you
Equipment
Electron microscopes
- TEM, transmission electron microscope, with EDS capability (Hitachi HT7700)
- FE-SEM, field emission scanning electron microscope, with EDS capability (Hitachi SU8010)
Light microscopes
- TIRF, total internal reflection fluorescence microscope (Olympus IX83)
- Two confocal laser scanning microscopes
Virtual microscope
- Virtual slide scanning microscope (Olympus BX61VS)
IHC stainer
- Automated IHC stainer (Leica BOND-MAX)
- AutoQuant for deconvolution and quantitative image analyses
- Imaris for 3D rendering and quantitative image analyses
- cellSens for deconvolution and quantitative image analyses
- ImageJ/Fiji for various image analyses
Ultrasound imaging system
- Ultrasound imaging station (Visual Sonic Vevo 3100)
- Sputter Coater (Quorum Q150T ES)
- Ultramicrotomes (Leica Ultracut UCT and Reichert Ultracut E)
Fees
Fee schedule for members of USask community
| TEM or SEM time, scope only | $40 per hour |
| TEM or SEM time, scope plus technician/training | $65 per hour |
| Embedding for TEM | $70 for first, $15 additional (up to total of 15) |
| Semi thin sectioning | $15 per block (two slides) |
| Ultrathin sectioning | $23 per block |
| Lifting sample from H and E slide | $60 per slide |
| IEM run | $60 |
| Particle grid prep | $12 per grid |
| Negative stain | $15 per grid |
| SEM tissue processing including fixation, dehydration, critical point drying and mounting | $70 for first, $15 additional |
| Sputter coating | $30 per run |
| Virtual scanning | $5 to $10 per slide |
| Confocal time, scope only | $30 per hour |
| Confocal time, scope plus technician | $55 per hour |
| Olympus TIRF time scope only | $30 per hour |
| Olympus TIRF time scope plus technician | $55 per hour |
Fee schedule for external academic and not-for-profit organizations
| TEM or SEM time, scope only | $60 per hour |
| TEM or SEM time, scope plus technician/training | $100 per hour |
| Embedding for TEM | $100 for first, $20 additional (up to total of 15) |
| Semi thin sectioning | $25 per block (two slides) |
| Ultrathin sectioning | $35 per block |
| Lifting sample from H and E slide | $80 per slide |
| IEM run | $90 |
| Particle grid prep | $20 per grid |
| Negative stain | $20 per grid |
| SEM tissue processing including fixation, dehydration, critical point drying and mounting | $100 for first, $20 additional |
| Sputter coating | $45 per run |
| Virtual scanning | $15 to $20 per slide |
| Confocal time, scope only | $40 per hour |
| Confocal time, scope plus technician | $80 per hour |
| Olympus TIRF time scope only | $40 per hour |
| Olympus TIRF time scope plus technician | $80 per hour |