Rationale and Mission. The development of advanced microscopy techniques is a driving force behind advances in biological research and medical imaging. In the past several decades, the refinement and commercialization of confocal/multiphoton microscopes along with advances in fluorophore development (such as GFP derivatives, Chameleons and many others) have led to a renaissance in biological microscopy (Denk et al., Science 248, 1990;Piston, Trends Cell Biol 9, 1999;Diaspro, 2002, Wiley-Liss;Van Roessel and Brand, Nat Cell Biol 4, 2002;Giepmans et al., Science 312, 2006). The newest imaging methods, however, often require expertise and instruments beyond the financial and technical capacity of most individual scientists. Thus, shared imaging facilities have become crucial components of university research cores. The CNR Imaging &Cell Analysis Core was developed in response to the rapid advances occurring in contemporary biological microscopy and to meet the imaging priorities of Tufts neuroscience investigators. The core now provides Tufts neuroscientists with a broad range of microscopic imaging services including widefield fluorescence microscopy &digital imaging, confocal microscopy, 2-photon microscopy, live-cell imaging, electron microscopy, and laser capture microdissection. In addition to standard microscopic investigations, investigators use core facilities to perform dynamic imaging studies such as fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) or fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) experiments. Core equipment and services are described in a later section.
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