The objectives of this project are to augment the existing imaging core facilities in the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology and to enhance the imaging resources available to investigators at the University of North Dakota. The existing imaging core is equipped with an Hitachi TEM, an Hitachi SEM, an Olympus Fluoview 300 laser scanning confocal microscope, and two older model epifluorescence microscopes equipped with a Spot II digital camera. While the electron microscopy facilities are state-of-the-art, the confocal and the fluorescence microscopy facilities have several limitations. First, the confocal microscope is equipped with only two channels and possesses a laser configuration which does not permit the use of dyes excited by near UV. The system is not upgradable and therefore investigators are effectively limited to dual label imaging with a restricted list of fluorophores. Second, the existing epifluorescence microscopes are inadequate for most immunofluorescence microscopy applications due to their older optical design. To overcome these limitations and to meet the needs of Projects 1, 3, and 5, the imaging core will be augmented by the addition of 1) a Bio-Rad Radiance2100 confocal microscope capable of four channel imaging (three fluorescent channels/one DIC channel) and detecting a wide range of fluorophores, 2) a modem infinity optics microscope with a sensitive, fast digital camera, and 3) a computer workstation with software for processing and analyzing image data. These resources are required for three of the projects in the COBRE application. Their addition will greatly enhance the research capabilities of investigators in the School of Medicine at the University of North Dakota.
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