A group of 10 NIH funded investigators request funds to purchase a laser scanning confocal microscope. The requested system consists of a Zeiss LSM510 equipped for Visible/Near UV imaging. The group is located in two departments at the Washington State University with research ties to the neighboring University of Idaho. 79 NIH funded investigators with a total of 102 active NIH grants are located in the region. The group shares access with the general research community to a BIORAD MRC1024 now in its seventh year of heavy use. 24 laboratories used the instrument in 2003, and newly recruited investigators with research emphasizing confocal imaging will add to the demand for this instrument beginning in 2004. In addition to lack of sufficient access for long-term time-lapse studies, the group is severely limited by technical requirements that cannot be met with the existing instrument. Among these are the ability to image more than two fluorescent probes simultaneously, increased detector sensitivity permitting study of living specimens and photolabile structure, the ability to detect UV excitable probes and the ability to assess protein-protein interaction using fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) measurements. The user group includes investigators with extensive previous experience with the Zeiss LSM510 confocal microscope system at other institutions, and there is no question regarding its ability to serve the needs of our user group for the life-span of the instrument. The instrument will be housed in an established multiuser imaging facility known as the """"""""EM center"""""""" which currently offers support by two full time staff members. It is anticipated that the user group requesting the instrument will use the instrument 75% of the time, but provisions will be made for use by non-group members as time permits. Policy for the instrument will be determined by an internal advisory committee, and day-to-day maintenance, technical supervision and instruction will be provided by staff members of the EM center. Service contracts over the next 5 years will be covered by a recharge system and through financial support from the Department of Veterinary, Comparative Anatomy, Pharmacology and Physiology. As the instrument becomes integrated into the user group's ongoing research programs, it is expected that service agreements will be maintained beyond the initial 5 year period by user fees.
