Hat-trick of R&D 100 Awards for Carl Zeiss Microscopy PlasDIC – the innovative relief contrast for routine microscopy awarded the “Oscar of Inventions”

Citation

(2004), "Hat-trick of R&D 100 Awards for Carl Zeiss Microscopy PlasDIC – the innovative relief contrast for routine microscopy awarded the “Oscar of Inventions”", Pigment & Resin Technology, Vol. 33 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/prt.2004.12933fab.021

Hat-trick of R&D 100 Awards for Carl Zeiss Microscopy PlasDIC – the innovative relief contrast for routine microscopy awarded the “Oscar of Inventions”

Hat-trick of R&D 100 Awards for Carl Zeiss Microscopy PlasDIC – the innovative relief contrast for routine microscopy awarded the “Oscar of Inventions”

For the third year in a row a Carl Zeiss Microscopy product is a winner of the coveted R&D 100 Award, which recognises the excellence and innovation of the 100 most important technical products launched worldwide. PlasDIC is the first low-cost differential interference contrast technique to allow the use of economical plastic culture vessels and slides for microscopic examinations without any loss of information.

PlasDIC differs from previous differential interference contrast techniques in eliminating the need for special condensers or compensation prisms and special objectives. With the PlasDIC slider in place and a simple coherence diaphragm for the condenser, the specimen is illuminated with natural, non-polarised light. This enables the use of lower-cost plastic Petri dishes with improved cell growth characteristics.

PlasDIC is easy-to-use and gives a much greater depth of focus than previous contrast methods. This greatly enhances the routine observation of living cells and has important implications for micromanipulation treatments, such as Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI). Typical application areas include cell biology and molecular biology laboratories at universities, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and institutes of reproductive medicine.

“This hat-trick of awards, following the success of the ApoTome in 2003 and the LSM 510 META Laser Scanning Microscope in 2002, confirms the innovation strategy at Carl Zeiss,” says Aubrey Lambert, Marketing Manager for Carl Zeiss UK. “Particularly in the field of cutting-edge research, Carl Zeiss is succeeding in consolidating its leading market position with innovative products such as the LSM 510 META, the ApoTome and the PlasDIC technique. Our goal remains to provide our customers with tools that enable them to perform their tasks more quickly, efficiently and successfully” (Plate 1).

Plate 1 Human epithelium cells from the mucous membrane of the mouth, prepared in a plastic Petri dish. The loss of information in conventional differential interference contrast (left), caused by anisotropy of the microscope slide material, is clearly visible. The image contrast achieved with PlasDIC (right) is brilliant despite the same microscope slide material

For further information, contact: Carl Zeiss Ltd, PO Box 78, Woodfield Road, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, AL7 1LU, UK.