The Olympus FLUOVIEW FV3000RS high speed, high resolution confocal microscope is applied for as a major component of the Imaging Core of the Hopkins NIH/NIDDK GI Core Center. It will replace our 10 year old Zeiss 510 Meta Confocal microscope, which is no longer supported by Zeiss for service contracts or for replacement parts. This Core Center has 56 Hopkins faculty as its research base and has as its major mission to make GI research as high a quality as possible at Hopkins, with excellence in imaging being a major strength of this Center. The GI Core Center was recently renewed and is in year 6 of 10 of NIH support. What sets the GI Core Center apart from other Hopkins imaging resources is that our users carry out live cell imaging studies of physiology and pathophysiology that often require study over many hours or days and our Imaging Core is able to provide time for these studies. We list as examples 8 major and 2 minor users. The major users require this instrument to accomplish the stated Aims of their NIH funded projects. All major and minor users, except for several users from the Cardiology division are GI Core Center members. The advanced features of the FV3000RS significantly add to standard confocal microscope capabilities and their value to our research base for their physiologic and pathophysiologic studies include: live cell imaging/environmental chamber (physiologic studies of intact intestine and human and murine enteroids for host-pathogen and microbiome interactions, cardiac pathophysiology, diseases and normal function of the enteric nervous system); multi-color spectral imaging (cell-cell and organellar relationships identified by immunofluorescence; biofilm composition; interactions of nerves, macrophages, other inflammatory cells with enteroids; atlas of transport proteins in enteroids under normal conditions and diarrheal diseases); super resolution mode (vesicle-vesicle interactions in regulation of trafficking and bacterial cellular-organellar interactions in biofilm formation); resonant scanning for rapid image acquisition rates (Ca2+ signals in cardiac myocytes and Zn transients in GI tissues). An advantage for our research base is that the FV3000RS will be part of our established Imaging Core that has an established administrative structure led by an Imaging Core Director and Associate Director with documented expertise in advanced imaging, and a core lab manager with many years of experience in teaching use of imaging approaches and maintaining an imaging Core. Moreover, our External Scientific Advisory Committee includes members with documented excellence in advanced imaging. In addition, the Imaging Core has at least >4 years of NIH support for personnel, supplies, the entire service contract requirements for the FV3000RS, plus institutional and philanthropic support established for unexpected repairs, including laser replacement.
This application to purchase an Olympus Fluoview FV3000RS confocal microscope will provide essential high resolution, high speed imaging capabilities for the Hopkins NIH/NIDDK GI Core Center and its 56 members, as wells as other faculty in the Department of Medicine. It will replace a 10 year old Zeiss 510 Meta that is heavily used (2500h/yr) but is now off service contract and for which parts are no longer made available. We expect that this instrument will lead to advances in the study of GI disorders, especially the pathophysiology of diarrheal diseases, host- pathogen interactions, diseases of the enteric nervous system, contributions of the intestinal microbiome to colon cancer, pathophysiology of Crohn's disease, as well as to the mechanisms of cardiovascular disease.
