Funds are requested to purchase a new Leica TCS SP2 confocal microscope for the imaging core facility in the Division of Anatomy at Eastern Virginia Medical School. The facility will serve the entire campus. Major users are nine NIH-funded investigators from four departments at EVMS. Between them, the major users have 15 NIH grants. The P.I., Dr. Godfrey, has used confocal microscopy as a major tool in his NIH funded research for five years. The facility is directed by Mr. Michael Adam, who has 13 years experience directing microscopy facilities. The major reason we are requesting this instrument is to facilitate the research of the major user group and that of new investigators who will be hired over the next several years. The existing microscopy facilities at EVMS are inadequate to support the experiments outlined in this proposal. In order to maintain and expand the NIH funding of the major user group and others, it is necessary to modernize the imaging core facility with the addition of a state-of-the-art confocal microscope and image analysis system. The requested instrument would give us the capability to image 3 fluors simultaneously and in addition has a transmitted light detector. The spectral tuning feature allows users to customize the wavelengths of emitted light that are detected by each channel, permitting maximum flexibility in the combinations of labels that can be utilized. This instrument would serve as the centerpiece of a modern imaging facility to facilitate NIH funded research at EVMS.
