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which would otherwise affect the quality of the acquired
images and, hence, the quantitative analysis (see Note 1).- Introduce the 96 well plate loaded with the samples in the plate
holder, tight firmly and close the instrument lid (see Note 2–4). - Configure the UniExplorer software for time-lapse analysis by
clicking the “New job” button in the top left corner of the
main window. - Give the new job a name (see Note 5).
- Choose the proper acquisition modules from the list to the left
by double clicking (or dragging) the icons in the following
order: (a) “Acquire” (for recording new image data) and (b)
“Growth Kinetics Analysis” (for monitoring bacterial growth/
growth inhibition over time). Press ‘Next’. - Let the UniExplorer software recognize the oCelloScope
instrument by selecting the instrument to use from the instru-
ment list with a left click. If the instrument is not displayed on
the list, check cables and power. If the instrument is still not
displayed, press the button ‘Refresh instrument list’. Otherwise,
the IP address of the instrument (e.g., 012.34.56.789) can be
manually specified by typing it in the space at the bottom of
the window. Press ‘Next’ to continue setting the experiment
setup. - Select the sample container type (e.g., “96 wells, Costar®
Corning 3596”) from the list showing the type of sample con-
tainers supported by the UniExplorer software. - Select and enable the wells that should be included in the anal-
ysis using the cursor. Enabled wells are shown as blue. Bacterial
growth/growth inhibition is only monitored for enabled wells. - The UniExplorer software automatically sets focus and the
optimal illumination level for each well. If necessary this can
manualy be adjusted for each single well with the “Live View”. - Set the scan area for each well. The scan area is shown as an
orange rectangle and placed at the center of each well by
default. Multiple scan areas can be added in different positions
in each well and labeled with customized names. The number
of images acquired per scan area can be specified and the image
distance is set according to the objects size. An image distance
of 4.9 μm should be chosen for microorganisms. - Adjust the time of analysis by selecting the number of acquired
images (“Number of repetitions”) and the time interval
between two sequential images (“Repetition interval”). For
instance, by selecting “Number of repetitions” = 33 and
“Repetition interval” = 00:15:00, the oCelloScope will take
the images every 15 min for 8 h with the first image taken at
t = 0. By ticking “Use multiple repetition intervals,” it is pos-
Chiara Canali et al.