This is a proposal to acquire a state of the art Typhoon Fluoroimager/Phosphoimager as a shared instrument for the Northwestern University research community. This instrument provides versatile imaging capabilities and exceptional sensitivity for characterization of fluorescent and chemifluorescent gels and blots. Such capabilities are required by many NIH-funded projects currently underway at NU (including, but not limited to, the 15 projects described in detail in this application) and are not available at Northwestern or at other nearby academic institutions. The instrument will be integrated in the Keck Biophysics Facility - a well known resource of shared equipment and technical expertise available to NU researchers on a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week basis. The need for the capabilities provided by the Typhoon imager for the NU Life Sciences research community cannot be underscored: about 40 research groups would benefit from such capabilities on a daily basis;research projects include those seeking to understand basic aspects of genomic structure and function, signaling pathways central to eukaryotic cell division and differentiation, or molecular origins of various human diseases (e.g., Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, polycystic kidney disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease), as well as those aiming to develop revolutionary drugs and innovative therapeutic strategies for cancer, infertility, and brain and bone disorders.
