Image acquisitions, image processing and image analysis are fundamental tools used in all of the projects. The availability of hardware and software to accomplish these tasks, and the availability of technical support to maintain and improve existing capabilities and to develop new processing methodologies is essential for the effective and time completion of the proposed studies. The core includes support for confocal microscopy, electron microscopy and cell sorting, as well as support for the purchase of hardware to be used for video image processing and the development of software to facilitate extraction of information from experimental images. Both projects 3 and 4 face substantial needs in the next two to three years for development of new image processing equipment and software. Current hardware, although still effective for the tasks for which it was designed, is no longer supported by the manufacturer, and so any component failure in a particular system will result in a substantial reduction in our capacity to process images. Given this situation it is clearly inadvisable to develop further protocols for the existing systems, particularly in light of advances in technology that have occurred in recent years. One of the primary objectives for the Core in the next funding period will be to provide the technical support and resources for acquiring new hardware, porting exiting capabilities to the new platform and developing new analysis routines to support recently developed experimental procedures. A new need within the program in the next period will be technical support for confocal imaging. The University will provide a confocal microscope to which the program will have adequate access, but technical support to operate the system will not be provided. The complexity of the system, combined with the special needs of the program (e.g. the need to image fluid-perfused microvascular systems in vivo and in vitro, and the need for micromanipulation and accompanying pressure control systems) make it imperative that the program have dedicated technical expertise to conduct these studies. This support will be provided by the core and be available to all three Rochester projects.
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