This application is for funds to purchase a Leica SCN400 Slide Scanner integrated with quantitation and stereology software from Visiopharm, and two remote workstations for offline analysis. The ability to automatically detect and capture in-focus, high resolution images of histochemical, immunohistochemical, or fluorescent probes on cells and tissues is paramount in contemporary basic and translational biomedical research. Quantitative microscopy becomes a powerful tool in both the research and clinical setting when a detailed analysis of tissue microstructure is essential to understand natural or pathological changes. Design- based stereological approaches are critical to avoid bias in biological measurement. The proposed system is very powerful as it integrates state-of-the-art scanning and image capture with accurate, unbiased quantitation. The acquired images will be analyzed offline, freeing the instrument for users needing access to its acquisition applications. The instrument will be housed in an imaging core facility in the Department of Genetics at Case Western Reserve University (CASE). The mission of the imaging core is to provide expertise, state-of-the-art instrumentation, and outstanding training and technical support to scientists at CASE and surrounding institutions. The proposed system will not only enhance the research capabilities of a university-supported core but directly impact the research of multiple NIH-funded grants including 14 R01s, 3 R21s, 2 P41s, and 1 P01, K99, R42, R02, P20 plus various clinical and training awards. The experiments utilizing the slide scanner technology outlined in this grant application cover all aspects of research from basic to clinical to translational, including fundamental processes in development (germ cell, blood vessel, lung) as well as developmental processes associated with disease (deafness, liver disease, cancers), host defense mechanisms against infections, coronary vasculature patterning, assessing the links between obesity, diet and colon cancer, the therapeutic impact of DNA-repair mechanisms after radiation and chemotherapy, infection and the immune response, tissue engineering of cartilage and vasculature, and the development of a portable device for the electrostimulation-induced healing of wounds suffered by soldiers in combat. In addition, several projects link the requested instrumentation to other imaging technologies, such as 2-photon intravital microscopy for in situ immune cell behavior, mammography for real-time guidance of needle biopsies, and cryo-imaging at multiple spatial scales from the whole organism to tissue structures to molecules. None of the proposed research projects can be accomplished with any currently available equipment on our campus or neighboring institutions.
NIH funded investigators at Case Western Reserve University request support for a new, integrated slide scanning system that will allow automated, quantitative, and stereological analysis of cell and tissue samples. The system will enable researchers to speed discoveries related specifically to Rift Valley fever virus, wound therapy, deafness, blindness, colon, lung, and liver cancers, and fundamental processes of development.
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