Aurox Unity – Compact, Laser-Free Confocal System for Live Cells
The Aurox Unity brings confocal microscopy to your benchtop in a compact, affordable and user-friendly form. Unlike conventional confocal systems, Unity uses patented laser-free technology with powerful LEDs and a unique dual-camera design. This ensures gentle illumination, reduced photobleaching, and high-resolution imaging—making it ideal for long-term live-cell studies. Controlled via an iPad app and powered by a built-in server, Unity offers streamlined workflows that suit both experienced microscopists and newcomers.
Why choose Unity for your lab?
Unity combines ease of use, gentle illumination, and powerful imaging in a single compact device. Its intuitive touchscreen control lowers the barrier for new users, while its technical capabilities meet the demands of advanced research. Easy to clean and maintain, Unity is well suited for both general laboratory use and CAT-3 environments. For labs that need a cost-effective, reliable, and flexible confocal solution, Unity offers a unique balance of performance and simplicity.
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Time-lapse
Unity enables effortless long-term monitoring of live samples. Define your region of interest, set the total duration and imaging intervals with a simple drag gesture, and let the system handle the rest. Its vibration-damped housing ensures mechanical stability, even in open lab spaces. Combined with environmental control, Unity supports long experiments without compromising sample viability, capturing subtle cellular processes over minutes, hours, or days.
The CAT-3 ready Unity
The compact and fully integrated design of Unity makes it an ideal confocal microscope for use in CAT-3 laboratories. Its simple, low-interaction operation ensures minimal handling during experiments, while the system’s robust construction supports standard decontamination procedures. This makes Unity not only powerful and flexible but also compliant with the demanding requirements of high-containment environments.
Tilescan
Large areas can be imaged seamlessly using the built-in tilescan mode. Simply outline the region of interest on the touchscreen, and Unity automatically plans and executes the tiled acquisition. Adjacent images are stitched together precisely, creating a high-resolution mosaic that preserves both context and detail. This makes Unity suitable for studying larger tissues, cell colonies, or multiwell plate samples without sacrificing clarity.
Z-stack
Unity’s precise optical sectioning provides detailed three-dimensional reconstructions of your samples. By setting upper and lower focus limits with the intuitive focus wheel, the software generates a full Z-series stack automatically. These stacks reveal internal structures at submicron resolution and can be combined into rich 3D renderings. This feature is especially useful for studying cell morphology, tissue organization, and dynamic changes in living specimens.
Fast multi-channel
Switch effortlessly between up to four fluorescence channels with sub-millisecond speed. Each channel can be toggled on or off with a tap, while exposure and illumination are adjusted in real time via simple touch gestures. Histograms help ensure optimal settings, minimizing background and maximizing signal. With Unity’s rapid channel switching, multi-color imaging of dynamic cellular events is possible without missing fast biological processes.
Widefield confocal
Unity allows direct comparison of widefield and confocal imaging modes with a single touch. Use widefield for quick overview scans, then switch to confocal for optical sectioning and sharper detail. The adjustable degree of sectioning gives researchers the flexibility to balance speed and resolution depending on experimental needs. This dual capability makes Unity versatile for documentation, screening, and in-depth analysis.
Multi-position
Whether working with multiwell plates, multiple cells in a dish, or defined tissue regions, Unity’s multi-position mode streamlines acquisition. Researchers can add, save, and edit multiple regions of interest within one experiment. Each position can have its own imaging parameters, making comparative studies simple. This functionality is invaluable when testing different treatments, conditions, or replicates in parallel.
Plates, dishes and slides
Unity is compatible with a wide range of standard sample formats. Three interchangeable holders support multiwell plates, Petri dishes, and glass slides, all secured with a magnetic locking system. This flexibility allows seamless transitions between high-throughput screening and single-sample experiments, while maintaining sample stability throughout extended imaging sessions.
Environmental control
Long-term live-cell imaging requires precise conditions. Unity supports an optional environmental chamber with heating and CO₂ control, keeping cells in physiological conditions for hours or days. The system maintains temperatures between 25–37 °C, while an external humidifier and CO₂ mixer ensure optimal gas composition. This enables researchers to study cell behavior under realistic conditions, from cell division to differentiation.
Software control
Unity is designed for intuitive control through a dedicated iOS app running on an iPad. Simple tap, drag, and swipe gestures replace complex control panels, lowering the learning curve. The app connects securely to Unity, while all full-resolution data is stored on the built-in server with 4 TB SSD capacity. Researchers can easily access, review, and share their data across the lab network.
Lighting
Instead of lasers, Unity uses patented multi-spectral LED illumination. LEDs reduce running costs, eliminate the need for laser safety regulations, and extend system lifespan. Most importantly, they minimize phototoxicity and bleaching, making Unity especially suitable for sensitive live-cell imaging. This gentle illumination allows longer experiments with healthier samples, while still delivering confocal-level resolution.
Cameras
At the heart of Unity is a unique dual sCMOS camera system, specifically designed for its laser-free confocal technology. Two perfectly pixel-registered 2048×2048 sensors capture complementary images, delivering high sensitivity and low noise. This configuration enables both widefield overview imaging (~4×4 mm field of view) and high-resolution Z-stack acquisition at magnifications from 4× up to 100×. The result is a versatile imaging platform that covers everything from whole-sample scans to subcellular detail.
System hardware
Unity is a fully integrated, compact system weighing less than 25 kg. It connects with a single power cable, while all components—including light source, optics, cameras, and server—are built in. A 4 TB SSD provides ample storage, accessible through wired or wireless networks. Optional CO₂ ports extend compatibility with live-cell incubation. Its small footprint and all-in-one design mean Unity fits easily into standard lab environments without the need for specialized infrastructure.
Optical path
The patented optical pathway inside Unity enables both top and bottom illumination, giving researchers flexibility in sample orientation. Despite its small size, the system achieves high-quality confocal and widefield imaging without bulky external components. This clever optical design ensures that switching between modes is seamless, with no need for realignment or hardware changes.
Specification
| Key specifications | Unity |
|---|---|
| Confocality | 0.6 µm (FWHM) with 1.4 NA oil objective |
| Disk | 1 sector structured illumination disk |
| Minimum exposure | 20 ms |
| Maximum frame rate |
Up to 22 fps (3 colour) Up to 40 fps (1 colour) |
| Imaging channels | 4 integrated filter channels |
| Channel switching | < 1 ms |
| Detector | Integrated sCMOS 2× (2048 × 2048), 6.5 µm pixels |
| Excitation range | 370 – 700 nm |
| Emission range | 410 – 750 nm |