We are requesting funds for the purchase of a Ventana Discovery Ultra research autostainer to be housed and operated by Boston University's Experimental Pathology Laboratory Services Core-Ex+. The Ex+ core is located on the Medical Campus and supports approximately 45 different research laboratories from 20 departments. Currently the Ex+ core provides routine tissue processing, paraffin embedding, sectioning, a diverse array of special stains, and bright field whole slide scanning. The Ex+ core currently lacks the capacity to provide automated immunohistochemical (IHC) and in situ hybridization (ISH) staining platforms to our research community. Unlike other technologies such as next-generation sequencing or flow cytometry, multiplex IHC/ISH are capable of simultaneous detection of multiple biomarkers from a single tissue section without the loss of tissue context. Due to the absence of a designated research autostainer, Boston University researchers are primarily conducting these time intensive and technically complicated staining processes manually. The current process may be prone to significant and unnecessary human error; this could impede effectual assay development, which requires stringent methodology to achieve reproducible and reliable outcomes. The limited throughput of manual assays also hampers the generation of sufficient data to achieve statistical significance. Although the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine currently have three automated IHC/ISH machines (Ventana Benchmarks), they operate in a `Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments' (CLIA) certified lab and are inaccessible to BUMC researchers. Automated staining platforms support simplified design, optimization, and implementation of new multiplex assay panels with an array of biomarkers. The two other comprehensive experimental histopathology cores in the immediate neighboring area, Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital, both currently own and operate designated research autostainers; however these services are not satisfactory to meet demands from the BU research community as outlined in the justification of need section from this proposal. Acquisition of the Ventana Discovery Ultra will greatly enhance our ability to answer complex biological questions and will support the continued growth of the Boston University research community.
The characterization of biomarkers (i.e. proteins and nucleic acids) in the context of animal tissues with spatial context is required for the research of many of Boston University's laboratories. Emphasis of research conducted within these laboratories span many disciplines including cancer, infectious disease, neurodegenerative disease, immunology, heritable diseases, and stem cell biology. The BU Ex+ Core currently does not possess a research autostainer; therefore, we are requesting funds to purchase a state of the art Ventana Discovery Ultra autostainer to equip the BU Ex+ Core with instrumentation commensurate with that of our peer institutions, and support the current and future growth of scientific discovery at BU.
