EMCCD microscopy camera provides fast frame rates for live cell imaging

The Rolera EM-C² EMCCD microscopy camera from QImaging (Surrey, BC, Canada) suits applications such as spinning-disc confocal imaging, total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy, ratiometric ion imaging and fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP). Fast frame rates essential to live cell imaging studies are enabled by the camera's 40 MHz pixel clock rate. Up to 34.2 full-resolution (one megapixel) frames per second can be read out and transferred over an optimized 800 Mb/s implementation of the IEEE 1394b FireWire protocol. The Rolera EM-C² delivers ~65% peak quantum efficiency across a broad spectrum and Peltier cooling to -50ºC to minimize dark current for longer exposures. Variable exposure times range from 200 ms to 17.9 min.