In this application we propose to significantly enhance the Core Microscopy Facilities at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center (UNM HSC) through the purchase of a new Zeiss Laser Scanning Microscope (LSM) 510. The instrument will benefit a multidepartmental and interdisciplinary research program. The Zeiss LSM510 will complement existing shared Fluorescence Microscopy and Flow Cytometry Facilities, housed in a new cancer research building. Shared Electron Microscopy Facilities are housed in an adjacent research building. In the face of continuously changing technologies, several successful NCRR Shared Instrumentation Grants and a NCRR Institutional Development Award have enabled the shared research facilities at UNM HSC to keep pace. The proposed Zeiss LSM510 will enable users to execute key morphological analyses not feasible with existing instrumentation. For example, users will be able perform triple labeling of fixed tissue and cell samples crucial for purposes of mapping the distributions and subcellular assemblies of proteins and nucleic acids. Quantitative analyses of the three dimensional distributions of molecules in cell and tissue samples will offer new information about: neuronal secretion and differentiation in normal and disease states; matrix remodeling associated with stroke and kidney disease, cellular responses to receptor activation and signal transduction; mRNA processing and transport in health and disease; the activation of transforming proteins involved in leukemogenesis; and detection of early neoplasms. Live cell studies using green fluorescent protein chimeras can easily be performed on this system with a heated slide developed by the PI and will allow time resolved analyses of molecular and vesicular transport, membrane microdomains, and cytoskeletal remodeling. In summary, the purchase of a Zeiss LSM510 will offer numerous independent investigators advanced imaging capabilities important for their NIH-funded biomedical research.
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