This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. This Core facility provides light microscopy, stereology, digital imaging, image database development, and consultation services, primarily for the CNPRC, and also for all campus departments on a recharge basis. The goal is to assist faculty, staff, and students with their research needs for qualitative and quantitative applications. This Core assists with the production of publication quality images and offers consultation on experimental approaches for use with its equipment. Additionally, it is engaged in digitizing and correcting archived film images from various sources but primarily those created by the Pathology Service at the CNPRC. The Core also provides a service to annotate and upload fully corrected digital images into the CNPRC image database. Uploaded images are linked in the database to other information for a specific animal and made available to all who have been granted access. Instrumentation housed in the Core is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for trained CNPRC users. Consultation, training, and support service, along with access to the equipment for other departments, is available from 8-5 Monday through Friday. The facility houses the following equipment: * A Cryostat for frozen sections. * Microtomes for paraffin and plastic sectioning. * Sample preparation equipment for plastic processing and embedding. * Data storage servers (expandable multi-terabyte volumes) for archiving client, Pathology Unit and Core data. These systems provide rapid access to very large (multi-gigabyte) files or data sets that would otherwise require hours to transfer from other locations in the CNPRC. * Web-based calendar for instrument reservations. * An Olympus BX61 research microscope with Olympus MicroSuite image analysis software and Intelligent Imaging Innovations SlideBook software for stereology and image data collection. * A second Olympus BX61 microscope with Intelligent Imaging Innovations SlideBook software for stereology technique development by the Core's staff. * A graphics workstation, a flatbed scanner, and a high-quality color corrected printer for publication quality prints, converting film to digital images, image correction, and archiving. * Document scanners for rapid digitization and OCR conversion of paper records. * A Delta Vision Microscopy System and computer workstation for very high resolution multi-dimensional fluorescence imaging with deconvolution. * A computer workstation for offline analysis of stereology data (used for method development by the Core staff), and large multidimensional image analysis. * A recently updated Visiopharm VIS/CAST Grid Stereology System for quantitative data collection and automated image analysis. * Photoshop, Illustrator, LightRoom, and DreamWeaver software to support all digital imaging efforts of the Core ?all computers are outfitted with spectrophotometrically color balanced monitors. * A fluorescence stereomicroscope outfitted with a high sensitivity camera coupled to a computer system. * A dual-head brightfield stereomicroscope. Future additions: The Core is in the process of purchasing a non-laser based confocal attachment for one of the Olympus BX61 microscope systems to improve the quality of fluorescent images. The Core hopes to purchase a widefield zoom confocal microscopy system for applications that require a very wide range of magnifications.
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