Navitar Life Sciences acquires Modulation Optics, microscopy contrast method

Optics manufacturer Navitar Life Sciences will acquire assets of Modulation Optics, including their Hoffman Modulation Contrast (HMC) imaging technology, a widely used light microscopy contrast method for viewing colorless and transparent biological specimens.

May 9, 2011

2 min read

Optics manufacturer Navitar Life Sciences (Rochester, NY) will acquire assets of Modulation Optics (Glen Cove, NY), including their Hoffman Modulation Contrast (HMC) imaging technology, a widely used light microscopy contrast method for viewing colorless and transparent biological specimens.

Developed by Dr. Robert Hoffman, the HMC method suits use in live-cell imaging applications such as stem cell imaging, cancer study, and embryo and sperm monitoring during in-vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures, as well as in intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and intracytoplasmic morphology selected sperm injection (IMSI) techniques.

The HMC method can be applied to most objective lenses, including Olympus, Nikon, Zeiss, Leica, and high-magnification imaging systems from Navitar. Modulation Optics offers HMC accessories, including full 360° rotating modulators with convenient ‘stop’ mechanism, condensers, turrets, and modules specifically matched with the individual HMC objectives.

Jeremy Goldstein, Navitar co-president, says that the HMC method acquisition allows them to combine the method with the company's other illumination techniques, including differential interference contrast (DIC), darkfield, brightfield and fluorescence.

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Posted by Lee Mather

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