We propose to purchase an Olympus NanoZoomer Digital Pathology slide imaging system with a fluorescence microscopy attachment to support at least 26 NIH funded investigators at the University of Rochester Medical Center. Microscopic analysis of thin sections of benign and malignant tissues from humans and from animals in experimental models of human diseases is a common end-point of many research studies. Analysis of tissue samples typically begins with microscopic assessment of paraffin-embedded H&E-stained sections on glass slides to distinguish normal from pathologic processes, followed by analysis of further sections stained with special histochemical or immunohistochemical (IHC) assays to detect enzymatic activity or particular proteins in individual cells. These assays help distinguish one cell type from another, identify different types of cancers, and assess the severity of inflammation or the extent of destruction of normal tissues and their replacement by repair tissue. Quantitative analysis of these various features of tissues can be done using time-consuming, labor-intensive methods and various image analysis systems. Other analyses include fluorescence microscopy or fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) on frozen or paraffin sections. A drawback of these methods is that IHC staining and fluorescence fades with time and fluorescence is quenched during analysis. Thus, subsequent analysis by others to confirm an interpretation may be difficult or impossible. Automatic scanning of these types of slides and storage of the images would be a great advance over current methods. Another major challenge in studies examining protein and gene expression is the time it takes trained personnel to accurately score tissue sections, especially with the advent of more target proteins from proteomic and genomic studies, and the increasing use of tissue microarrays. This has produced a bottleneck in many translational research studies at our institution, which would be solved by having a shared whole slide image analyzer system. The long-term objective of this proposal is to provide a state-of-the-art device and technical support to scan glass slides automatically with the aim of helping researchers reach their scientific goals faster and produce analytic data more quickly and accurately than is possible with equipment currently available at URMC. The 46 NIH-funded projects to be supported cover a wide array of disorders, including immunologic, musculoskeletal, pulmonary, prostatic, and neuromuscular benign and malignant diseases.
The Specific Aims are to 1) Scan slides of tissues from a broad range of studies;2) Store these images for a defined period until they are captured by investigators;3) Train investigators to use the NanoZoomer's morphometric capabilities to allow them to carryout morphometric analysis on the stored images, construct 3-D images and match stored images with those acquired using other devices, such as
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