Carl Zeiss has introduced a unique hardware/software interface to connect light and scanning electron microscopes for correlative microscopy in the life sciences. The “Shuttle & Find” interface enables users to recall regions of interest in fixed specimens in an electron microscope, which were previously identified in a light microscope and vice versa. The entire process takes only a few seconds. This opens up totally new dimensions in microscopy: rapid and precise overlay of light and electron microscope images, high-resolution magnification of the details, and the merger of functional and structural information.
The key elements of Shuttle & Find for correlative light and electron microscopy (CLEM) are:
- a transferable specimen holder that enables smooth specimen transfer between the light and electron microscopes (shuttle) and
- a software module that controls all functions of light and electron microscopes needed to identify and recall the defined region of interest (Find)
Shuttle & Find connects all light microscopes from Carl Zeiss that can be equipped with a motorized stage (SteREO Discovery, Axio Scope, Axio Imager, Axio Examiner and also the Axio Observer inverted microscope) with all ZEISS scanning electron microscopes of the types EVO, SIGMA, SUPRA, ULTRA, MERLIN as well as with the CrossBeam (FIB-SEM) system AURIGA.