The MOM Computer System and Software (MCS) is the software package MScan. This program has been designed to seamlessly control two-photon imaging, photostimulation and electrophysiology. While designed exclusively for use with the MOM, it is also compatible with other two-photon platforms. MOM microspcoe. MCS is designed to take on complex experiments in deep-tissue intravital imaging. Its intuitive user interface, is easy to use. The MCS and MOM together form a formidable tool to understand the most complex issues in neuroscience, immunology or oncology. Importantly, you will find in MCS the same standard of technical excellence that is the hallmark of all Sutter Instruments products.

The MScan software has been developed to simplify the many tasks inherent in a complicated imagaing experiments. MScan is extensively multithreaded to take advantage of multicore processors. This ensures reliability and user interface responsiveness. Furthermore, MScan is multiuser based to facilitate sharing of a MOM microscope with MCS among experimenters. Experimenters can then send their data to other workstations for analysis. The MCS analysis program MView is available for free download on the Sutter Instrument website.

MCS includes a windows 7 workstation, National Instruments data acquisition boards, a firewire CCD camera and a USB controlled MPC-200. The National Instruments boards included are a PCI-6110 board for imaging, a PCIe-6353 board for control of imaging and photostimulation laser power and a PCIe-6321 board for electrophysiology. The package is a turnkey system as all data acquistions boards and software come installed within the workstation.

An important feature provided in MScan is the ability to do bidirectional frame scanning with subpixel line offset adjustment. Conventional two-photon frame scanning has involved unidirectional scanning. In these scenarios, data is only recorded when sweeping in one direction across the sample. To increase the rate of data acquisition, it is then necessary to steer the laser beam back to the origin of the scan as quickly as possible to begin the subsequent line. As galvanometric scanners are most taxed and most likely to be damaged during these high-frequency movements, bidirectional scanning both increases the speed at which frames can be recorded and decreases the likelyhood of damage to expensive galvanometers.