Micro Manager 2.0 (how to cite Micro
Manager: https://micro-manager.org/Citing_Micro-Manager)
Current build Nightly build: 2025-06-10
PC
Asus Prime X299-A
Windows 10 64-bit
Core i9 3.3GHz
64 GB RAM
NVidia GeForce RTX2080
Samsung 970 EVO Plus 2000Gb M.2 NVMe x 4 22x80 SSD (Fast Data)
HGST 0F27452 DC HC510 ISE 10,000gb 7200rpm 256mb Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s
(Data)
Micron 5300 PRO 960gb SSD
Photobleaching
Open the Projector plugin in Micro-mananger to control the
photobleaching system. Instructions on using the Projector plugin are
here. To control the laser powers, open the Vortran control
panel. To calibrate either laser, you can use an 0.01 mg/ml fluorescein
solution, imaged in the FITC channel. A bottle of this solution is in
the cabinet. Right now there is no way to save the calibration, so if
you switch lasers you'll need to recalibrate.
For photoconverting mEos2, using the correct laser power is critical. If
the laser power is too high, the protein will bleach instead of
photoconverting. With the current OD2 filter, a 405 nm power of 50 mW
works well (once we switch to an OD1 filter, use 5 mW). The Rapp unit
ignores the spot dwell time parameter; to control how long the area is
converted, adjust the loop parameter. For the laser power above, 10
loops gives good photoconversion and is still relatively rapid (~1s for
areas of a few μm^2^ at 100x). For bleaching GFP you'll need to use
higher power.
Laser powers measured out of 10x objective, each laser at 50 mW power
(no ND filter in)