The goal of this project is to establish a multi-user facility at Northwestern Medical School that will allow high speed confocal microscopy in living cells where physiological conditions can be maintained and cellular electrophysiological measurements can be made. This facility is designed to meet the needs of multiple investigators who are supported by funded NIH grants and who need the capabilities of the requested instrument in order to further the specific aims of their ongoing research. The approaches made possible in this techniques currently available in each lab separately. Extensive financial support is being provided by the Medical School as demonstrated by a cost-sharing arrangement which includes a total of $210,250 both for renovations of dedicated space and for partial operating costs for a period of 5 years. This facility initially will support the specific aims of seven separate NIH-funded research projects. These projects share a common goal of investigating regulation of cell signaling, including measurements in intact cells of intracellular Ca, targeting and localization of specific proteins, protein-protein interactions and regulation of secretion. Most experiments will be performed under conditions intended to maintain as normal a physiological state as possible. To date, progress by individual members of the user group has been limited by the inability to measure subcellular events underlying cell will be made possible will now allow the application of advanced confocal imaging technology to the direct study of the relationships of electrophysiological properties and transmembrane signaling events to the intracellular regulation of cell function. In addition, this facility will greatly enhance the research training on students and post-doctoral fellows and will also have a significant impact on the research training of clinician scientists. Consequently, this facility is likely to make a major contribution to both the research and teaching missions of the Medical School.
| Nishio, Manabu; Ruch, Stuart W; Kelly, James E et al. (2004) Ouabain increases sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium release in cardiac myocytes. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 308:1181-90 |
