Hi Nathalia,
I saw your post on the Zbrafish mailing list about dissecting
scopes. I've just purchased my scopes and thought I'd pass along my
experience. First, I got one scope just for microinjection-a Fisher
Stereomaster for about $1,000. Not a great scope by any means, but
totally suitable for injection/embryo sorting. For a higher quality
scope for scoring phenotypes, in situs, etc., I got a Leica S6 for
about $2,000. It comes with its own light source that makes it very
easy to switch from transmitted to incident light, which I find very
convenient. For a high end scope, I went with the Leica MZ16, but
each of the scopes from the major companies has it's own optics and
'feel', so its really a matter of choice on that. Its worth the time
to demo a few that you are interested in, which is also a good way to
see if the sales rep is knowledgable and reasonable available to
you. A good rep will help you find ways to get what you need within
your budget, especially if they know that there are other companies
in the mix for your business.
For microinjection, I went with the PLI-100 system from Harvard
Apparatus, mostly because I knew from personal experience that it was
high quality and very dependable.
Let me know if you have any questions, and good luck.
Chris
Chris Thorpe
Assistant Professor
Division of Biology
307 Ackert Hall
Kansas St. University
Manhattan, KS 66506
(785) 532-1529 (office)
(785) 532-1531 (lab)
