The current application seeks salary support for Hans Minderman, PhD who serves as the Assistant Director of the Flow and Image Cytometry Shared Resource (FICSR) of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute. This position was created in 2007 to oversee the research applications of the various imaging (confocal, live cell imaging) and flow cytometry platforms available in the facility, to establish and implement a program for the then novel ImageStream technology and to apply his extensive experience in these areas in collaborations and consultations with the FICSR investigator user base. With over 30 years of experience in clinical applications of flow and image cytometry (25 years at Roswell Park Cancer Institute), Dr Minderman throughout his career has collaborated with many investigators at the Institute on NIH funded projects. The tumor immunology & immunotherapy (TII) Cancer Center Support Grant (CCSG) program, co- led by Dr Odunsi, who serves as the unit director on this application, is the major user base of the FICSR; and numerous NIH-funded researchers in this program actively collaborate and consult with Dr Minderman commensurate with the purpose of the PAR16-025 funding opportunity. Specifically, the ImageStream cytometry applications developed under Dr Minderman?s direction play an important role in the research efforts of many researchers in the TII and ovarian SPORE programs led by Dr Odunsi. In the ongoing effort to provide the TII and SPORE program members with cutting edge cytometry technology, RPCI in December 2015 purchased a Helios cytometer which enables high dimensional multiplex phenotyping of small sample sizes such as biopsies of the tumor microenvironment. Dr Minderman will apply his expertise in setting up and implementing the highly successful ImageStream program to consulting and actively collaborating with Dr Odunsi?s research group to implementing the Helios technology and developing and validating its applications.
As the Assistant Director of the Flow and Image Cytometry Shared Resource with over 30 years of relevant experience, Dr Minderman is an integral part of the Roswell Park Cancer Institute?s cancer research program. His insightful intellectual and practical contributions on how cutting edge flow and image cytometry applications can aid the many NCI-funded projects at the Institute and the Tumor Immunology and Immunotherapy program in particular are invaluable. Awarding Dr Minderman the NCI Research Specialist designation will ensure the stability of an essential resource to the Institute?s research enterprise.
