The Leica ARTOS 3D is a highly automated ultramicrotome that produces semi-thin and thin sections for high-resolution light microscopy and immunocytochemistry. This instrument features a video monitor and a Leica IC90E camera system that allows user-friendly inspection and setup of the sample and documentation of the sectioning process. The ARTOS ultramicrotome also eliminates many of the manual manipulations needed to produce the consistent ribbons of serial sections required for array tomographic reconstruction of 3D volumes in immunofluorescence and electron microscopy studies. The instrument comes with the EM RAPID high speed milling system for the trimming of resin-embedded specimens for subsequent sectioning. Funding for this instrument was provided by the NIH S10 shared instrumentation grant S10 OD032246 (PI: Dr. Martin Katz).
Clients wishing to use diamond histo knives should bring their own. The LKB 7800A KnifeMaker is available for making glass knives. Glass strips are available for purchase from the ALMC supply center.