Digital Stereology

Stereo Investigator

Count Cells and Quantify Lengths, Areas, and Volumes with the World’s Best and Most-Cited Stereology System

A Stereo Investigator system provides you with accurate, unbiased estimates of the number, length, area, and volume of cells or biological structures in a tissue specimen. It is a key research tool that has led to advances in numerous areas of neuroscience including neurodegenerative diseases, neuropathy, memory, and behaviour, as well as other research fields including pulmonary research, spinal cord research, and toxicology.

With Stereo Investigator, stereology can be done on a microscope system from image stacks, or from whole slide images. It is compatible with Brightfield, Multi-Channel Fluorescence, Confocal, and Structured Illumination Microscopes.

Stereo Investigator has been cited in over 7,000 published research papers

Stereo Investigator Works with Brightfield, Multi-Channel Fluorescence, Confocal, and Structured Illumination Microscopes

Stereo Investigator fully integrates with your microscope and associated hardware to reduce manual work and to speed up data collection. It can:

• direct motorized microscope stages to automatically move in order to perform systematically random sampling of tissue specimens
• control cameras so you can view live images or collect and save images and image stacks, even change or save camera settings for future use
• control the focus position, change objective lenses or adjust the condenser
• automatically change filter wheels and mirror cubes when acquiring fluorescent images or image stacks

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Slide Scanning Workflow

A completely new slide scanning workflow is easier to use, will save time training new users and give you great slide scanning results. Use this workflow to scan at any magnification and create high resolution 2D images or 3D stacks. This workflow brings all the controls and features necessary to complete slide scanning into one location. Feature includes:

• An easy-to-follow guide that makes it simple for new users to scan great quality images
• Background correction to insure clean, even, image quality
• Heat map allows you to spot folds and other areas that need additional focus sites
• Validate your settings before you start a long acquire by taking a test image

Stereology from Image Stacks

Performing stereology at the microscope from fluorescent tissue specimens can be problematic since exposure to light degrades fluorescent tissue. With Stereo Investigator you can acquire image stacks using systematic random sampling (SRS) – a method that produces image stacks suitable for stereology- and then perform stereology on the image stacks. A great benefit of stereology on image stacks is that you can run many probes for different types of analyses and never have to worry that your tissue will fade. Plus, it’s easier to double check the analysis.

During SRS image stack acquisition, Stereo Investigator directs the motorized stage, camera, and, for fluorescent images, the filter wheels and mirror cubes. This means you can automatically capture image stacks at each sample site, and then take the image stacks to a computer with Stereo Investigator Desktop and perform stereological analysis.

Stereology on Whole Slide Images

Whole slide images give you the freedom to perform stereology on a computer away from the microscope. Stereology on 2D whole slide images can be employed for counting cells with the Physical Fractionator, quantifying area and volumes with the Cavalieri probe, and for calculating the area of a small objects, such as lesions or plaques, within a larger region using the Area Fraction Fractionator.

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Stereology on Cleared Tissue Specimens

Stereo Investigator – Cleared Tissue Edition is the gold standard in unbiased stereology for use on cleared tissue. It allows researchers to use the world’s most cited stereology software to analyze intact, cleared tissue specimens imaged with light sheet or confocal microscopes.

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Stereo Investigator Add-On Modules

• Image Montaging – Digitally re-create a complete region of interest or an entire specimen in 3D or 2D for analysis, archiving or sharing
• Image Stacks – Capture and analyze 3D image stacks
• Structured Illumination – An Affordable, Fully Integrated Quantitative Confocal System
• 2D Slide Scanning – Create, view, and analyze an entire specimen in a single high-resolution image
• 3D Slide Scanning – 3D Whole Slide Imaging for image analysis, sharing or archiving
• MRI – Analyze MRI image sets and apply stereological techniques
• 3D Serial Construction – Perform 3D reconstructions from serial sections.