Funds are requested to support purchase of a new JEOL transmission electron microscope, model JEM- 1230, with an AMT-X100 high-resolution digital camera system. This microscope will be administered and maintained by the Advanced Microscopy Facility (AMF) within the School of Medicine (SOM). An advisory committee, consisting of 8 senior faculty plus the Technical Director of the AMF, will oversee the instrument. The principal investigator is the AMF Faculty Director and chair of the advisory committee. The AMF is a core fee-for service facility for users throughout the Medical School. About 72 principal investigators and their research groups use these facilities each year. Currently the AMF operates two electron microscopes that each are more than 20 years old, and are no longer reliable. There are several other electron microscopes within the SOM and elsewhere on campus, but they are in individual laboratories and are not generally available to NIH-funded investigators. The JEM-1230 TEM will fill a critical need within the University of Virginia for reliable, high resolution, high contrast transmission electron microscopy. It will be particularly valuable in the multi-user setting of the AMF because users can each store personalized settings. The improved imaging features will be important for several projects that use rotary shadowing to determine the overall conformation of protein complexes, and for fragile specimens that are sensitive to beam damage. The microscope will be housed in newly renovated space dedicated to the AMF. The SOM also supports the salaries of the Technical Director and a laboratory specialist in the AMF. There will be 5 NIH-funded primary users, and at least 4 minor users. Instrument time will be reserved by users on a Web-based calendar. The hourly fee and scheduling will be determined by the advisory committee and PI.
| Cechova, Sylvia; Dong, Fan; Chan, Fang et al. (2018) MYH9 E1841K Mutation Augments Proteinuria and Podocyte Injury and Migration. J Am Soc Nephrol 29:155-167 |
