The Cell Imaging and Microscopy Core (CIMC) provides cellular imaging technologies and services to enhance the programmatic research initiatives of the Winship Cancer Institute (WCI). It is centrally located in the WCI and houses state-of-the-art technologies including point scanning confocal, live cell confocal, and spectral confocal imaging, as well as epifluorescence microscopy, image processing, and image analysis. To ensure that that these technologies are properly utilized, CIMC personnel perform comprehensive training sessions and provide consultation on experimental setup, execution, and analysis. Moreover, CIMC personnel provide daily user assistance and perform routine maintenance on all equipment to ensure optimal image acquisition and analysis. The CIMC has also developed an educational web site that provides online scheduling, recent upgrades, and describes the technologies and applications available. The CIMC is a WCI Core, and the WCI is responsible for oversight, operations, budget, compliance, user fee collection, and employee relations. The Core director makes all day-to-day decisions with input from CIMC personnel, users, and internal advisory boards. CIMC services have impacted numerous programmatic initiatives that include biomarker discovery and development, cancer nanotechnology, tumor diagnostics, drug delivery, molecular pharmacology, and cell biology. Furthermore, the CIMC participates in two institution-wide grants and collaborates with several WCI cores and investigators. As a result, the CIMC has users from all WCI programs, and WCI members comprise 78% of total CIMC usage. The CIMC has focused on two areas of technology development? cancer nanotechnology and more recently, in vivo (small animal) cellular imaging. These new technologies strengthen the scientific repertoire of the CIMC and ultimately enhance the basic, translational, and clinical initiatives of the WCI.
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