The Nikon LiveScan Swept Field Confocal Microscope (SFC) is now available with NIS-Elements control and image acquisition software. The new laser confocal microscope enables dynamic live cell confocal imaging. Its optical design is used in pinhole scan mode for high Z axis resolution with data acquisition at frame rates up to 30 frames/sec, and in slit scan mode at acquisition frequencies up to 1200 frames/sec. The instrument can monitor and record rapidly occurring events with msec time resolution in living cells without compromising spatial confocality, while simultaneously minimizing specimen exposure to damaging illumination energy, which can result in photobleaching and phototoxicity. Scan head combines tandem scanning technology with galvanometer and piezo controlled scanning mirrors. In pinhole mode, the illuminating photons are focused through a row of 32 stationary pinholes over the specimen, allowing each point in the specimen to be illuminated up to 260 times/sec. The emission photons are de-scanned and focused through a complementary row of pinholes on the image side, and from there onto the face of a high sensitivity EMCCD camera. Because the pinholes are stationary, the plate containing them can contain 4 rows of pinholes, with the pinhole size for each row selected to maximize both axial and lateral resolution for all of the most commonly used objective lenses for confocal microscopy. The plate also contains two different size slits that allow data acquisition at fast frame rates. Nikon Instruments Inc. 800-526-4566 www.nikonusa.com