Temperature controlled microscope stage

[Stephen P. Driska PhD]

Gerrit Beemster (beemster at BIOSCI.MBP.MISSOURI.EDU) wrote:
: Dear Netters,

: I'm studying cell division and expansion in Arabidopsis roots. One problem
: is temperature control of the microscopic stages, as root growth is highly
: responsive to temperature changes. I'm therefore going to build a setup
: that allows me to control the temperature of the stage of a microscope and
: therefore the temperature in petrie-dishes mounted on it, in which my roots
: are growing. I'm thinking about a loose temperature controlled waterbath
: from which water is circulated through some sort of jacket that encloses
: most of the petrie-dish.

: Does anyone have experience with a similar setup, ideas that could help me?
: Any comments are greatly appreciated.

: Cheers,

: Gerrit Beemster
: 109 Tucker Hall
: Biological Sciences
: University of Missouri
: Columbia MO 65211
: Email: beemster at biosci.mbp.missouri.edu
: Fax: (314) 882 0123

	Gerrit-
   We had something made like you described by our shop, but at that 
time I didn't know about the following two companies that sell such
devices:

	Warner Instrument Corp., (203) 776-0664
	Bioptechs, Inc.,  (412) 282-7145

  The device we used was for short term experiments, but you probably
need to study things for weeks, I'd guess.  

	The problem with culture dishes is that plastic doesn't conduct
heat very well.  Both these companies look very good in their catalogs.
If you want details on what we had made in house, let me know by e-mail.

		Good luck....	

--
Steve Driska, Physiology Department, Temple University Medical School
Philadelphia, PA 19140 USA (215) 707-3283 
driska at astro.ocis.temple.edu  
If I could think of something witty and clever to say, it would go right 
here ----->>    .........................