Imaging Center Campus Essen
Imaging Center Campus Essen - ICCE
Imaging core facility of the Center of Medical Biotechnology (ZMB) at the University of Duisburg-Essen.
Services of the ICCE
Images: © C.Schubert/ZMB
The ICCE provides the following services for all ZMB researchers and collaborating groups of the University Duisburg-Essen or external universities and research institutions:
- state-of-the-art equipment for advanced light microscopy techniques,
- technical advice in sample preparation and
- support in image analysis
Please, contact us to discuss if your project can be conducted at our microscope systems.
Highlights & News
New Event Series: ICCE Bites
June, 2025
New Event Series: ICCE Bites
Join us for ICCE Bites – our new monthly lunch event series at ICCE!
Every last Thursday of the month at 12:00 p.m., we meet for an informal get-together to exchange ideas, experiences, and questions around microscopy and image analysis. Each session features a light theme and a short input to spark discussion.
Bring your lunch, we’ll provide drinks!
Next session:
July 31, 2025 · 12:00 p.m. · Seminar Room S03 S00 A40
Topic: Segmentation & Sandwiches
All ICCE users are welcome!
Ultrastructure Expansion Microscopy
April, 2025
Expansion microscopy was published in 2015 by Fei Chen, Paul W. Tillberg and Ed Boyden in Science. It is a method utilizing polymers to expand biological samples to increase their size. Since 2015 several variations were developed, for example the Ultrastructure Expansion Microscopy to peserve ultrastructures for imaging by the Guichard lab. We got the opportunity to visit the Musacchio lab, our partners within the CRC1430, to learn this method from Verena Cmentowski.
If you are interested in using/learning this method for imaging, please contact us.
New Publication of ICCE User Group
December, 2024
UDE scientists around Junior Professor Anzhela Galstyan and the ICCE used electrospinning to create photoactive membranes and investigate their potential antibacterial role. With FLIM measurements at our CLSM Leica SP8X active sites within the membrane were discovered and the study was published in the journal Angewandte Chemie.
For further information please visit the university website:
Archive
2025
First ICCE Bites
Our new monthly lunch event series at ICCE successfully started in June 2025.
First session: June 26, 2025 · 12:00 p.m. · Seminar Room S03 S00 A40
Topic: First Bite – Get a Taste of ICCE
We look forward to many more ICCE Bites!
New ICCE office location
April, 2025
We moved to a new office. You will find us now in S03 S00 A37, close to the ZMB office.
2024
New Publication with ICCE Participation
April, 2024
UDE scientists from Hemmo Meyer's group and the ICCE, as well as collaborators from Munich and Milan, were able to decipher a new signaling pathway for lysosomal damage sensing and lysophagy initiation by SPG20-ITCH. Their findings have now been published in the renowned journal Molecular Cell. The study used a variety of sophisticated microscopic approaches, including live-cell 2D-SIM at our new Nikon N-SIM S and different confocal imaging approaches at our CLSM Leica SP8X and Spinning Disk confocal Andor Revolution.
For further information please visit the university website:
New publications of ICCE user group
February 1st, 2024
The research groups, led by Prof. Dr. Perihan Nalbant (Center of Medical Biotechnology, UDE) and PD Dr. Leif Dehmelt (Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, TU Dortmund) used the equipment and support provided by the ICCE to visualize the signals that control the shape changes in cell migration. These findings could help to better understand cancer metastasis. The renowned journals Nature Communications and Molecular Biology of the Cell have reported on the findings.
For further information please visit the university website:
2023
NEW structured illumination (SIM) microscope
September 21st, 2023
We are happy to announce that our new live-cell super resolution microsope N-SIM S from Nikon arrived and is available for your imaging approaches.
For further information please visit the university website:
Please contact us to discuss if your project can benefit from the new super resolution approach.
CRC 1430 teaching lecture
May 23rd, 2023
We are happy to give a CRC1430 teaching lecture on Tuesday, 23rd May, 5:15 p.m. The talk will cover: “Advanced light microscopy: from sample preparation to image analysis". If you are not part of the CRC1430 and are interested to join, please contact us.
OMERO workshop
April 27th, 2023
We are pleased to announce our basic workshop on Omero organized by the INF project & ICCE, Soni Lama and Johannes Koch from the CRC1430, entitled:
“How Omero supports handling of your microscopy data in your Science Projects"
If you would like to participate please register via sending a short email to: crc1430@uni-due-de
We encourage everyone, handling imaging data to participate!
2022
NEW EVOS M7000 microscope
November 14th, 2022
We are happy to announce that our new CRC1430/DFG-funded fully automated (live-cell) widefield microscope system EVOS M7000 from ThermoFisher Scientific arrived and will soon be available for your imaging approaches.
During the commissioning, Gerhard Zimmermann, Field Application Specialist from ThermoFisher Scientific, will give a general presentation on the possible applications of the instrument. This will take place on Tuesday the 29th of November 2022 from 10:30 to 11:30 in seminar room S03 S00 A40.
All members of CRC 1430 as well as ICCE users are cordially invited to attend the presentation.
Please contact us by email to register nina.schulze@uni-due.de .
NFDI4BIOIMAGE approved
November 4th, 2022
We are happy that the NFDI4BIOIMAGE initiative is approved for funding by the German Research Foundation. We are looking forward to collaborate with the initiative and taking the next step in stadartization of image acquisition and metadata handling.
For more information have a look at NFDI4BIOIMAGE
OMERO workshop
April 6th, 2022
We are pleased to announce our first workshop on Omero organized by the INF project & ICCE, Johannes Koch and Marion Langen from the SFB1430, entitled:
“How Omero supports handling of your microscopy data in your Science Projects"
If you would like to participate please register via sending a short email to: Johannes.koch@uni-due.de
We encourage everyone, handling imaging data to participate!
2021
CRC1430 funding approved
May 25, 2021
We are happy to announce that our proposal has been approved by the DFG on Tuesday, May 25th, 2021, and the work in our Collaborative Research Centre 1430 "Molecular Mechanisms of Cell State Transitions" can start now. The ICCE will participate as central service project to support scientists in the detection and modulation of cell state transitions using advanced light microscopy and image analysis.
For more information, please visit the CRC1430 website.
2020
OMERO for image data management
October 28, 2020
For the management of microscopy data, the ICCE operates a dedicated OMERO instance in cooperation with the Research Data Services (RDS), the eScience unit of ZIM and the CVIS. More information about OMERO can be found here.
Please contact us, if you are interested in using OMERO.
Presentation of Zeiss AxioLab5
March 2020
The company Zeiss will present their microscope AxioLab5 as a tool for a digital classroom. The presentation will take place on 03/03/2020 at 10 a.m. in S05 V05 F55. Guests are welcome.
CIC-RDM meeting in Essen
February 2020
We will host the CIC-RDM Meeting on 02/03 to 02/04. The topics will be to develop workflows/usecases of OMERO, funding opportunities for RDM, data policies for core facilities and training concepts for RDM software.
If you are interested to join, please contact us.
2019
2018
New Microscope at ICCE: Leica TCS SP8X Falcon
August 2018
We are excited to announce that our new confocal microscope system Leica TCS SP8X Falcon for Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy (FLIM) and Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS) was successfully installed at the ICCE. Additional special features beyond FLIM and FC(C)S are the White Light Laser (WLL) as excitation source in combination with Leica´s spectral detection system for maximal spectral freedom, Lightning (Leica´s Detection and Image Information Extraction add-on for “confocal super-resolution” down to 120 nm), Navigator and HCS A for fast overviews, automated image acquisition and screening, a Resonant Scanner for fast imaging and a UVA (355 nm) laser ablation system (Rapp OptoElectronic) for laser microirradiation (e.g. DNA damage) and cutting/ablation. You can find more detailed information about the technical specifications under equipment.
The new equipment was obtained through DFG funding (Major Research Instrumentation Programme as per Art. 91b GG, INST 20876/294-1 FUGG) to Prof. Shirley Knauer and other ZMB members and will be fully integrated into the ICCE. A special thanks to all those involved.
Your Acknowlegment Matters
If you publish data recorded on one of our instruments please acknowledge the ICCE. We need a good publication record - as much as you do - to apply for research grants and funding for new equipment.
In case of substantial scientific contributions, the respective ICCE member needs to be listed as a co-author on the publication.
Moreover, the acknowledgement of the publication MUST include a reference to the corresponding funding number given with the instrument name. You can find the correct project funding numbers on the respective equipment page.
Pay attention to the spelling of the ZMB in the affiliations. It should be uniformly named Center of Medical Biotechnology. Currently, spellings such as “Centre” or “Center for” are very common.
Please contact us before you submit a publication. We will be happy to help.