An MCP-based system for beta autoradiography

We describe a pre-commercial prototype autoradiography system which can be used to image a variety of radiolabelled biological samples, ranging from l ymphocyte proliferation assays to semi-thin whole body tissue slices. These samples can be imaged with high spatial resolution (similar to 70 microns) and high sensitivity (eg. 3H - minimum detectable activity 0.001Bq in 20 h ours) over a wide (5-6 orders of magnitude) dynamic range. Specimens are au tomatically presented, through a vacuum load-lock, to an imaging microchann el plate (MCP) detector operating in high (similar to 10(-6)mbar) vacuum. We present images obtained from tritium labelled samples and discuss the im portance of the new system for a variety of biological techniques.