The Confocal Core Facility at the University of Maryland School of Medicine proposes to acquire a set of microscopy components to support the research of investigators in the School of Medicine, as well as the Schools of Dentistry and Nursing. The investigators proposing projects as Major and Minor Users, like many others at the University, have immediate need for live confocal imaging in cell cultures and ex vivo systems. However, they have been drastically and increasingly limited in their ability to accomplish key aims of their research due to the aging of our microscope best suited to live-cell imaging. Indeed, no microscope optimized for high-speed imaging has come into the Core since 2008, which has left a widening hole in our ability to conduct relevant research in many of the areas of historic strength at the University. With this in mind, the departments of the Major and Minor Users with additional support from the Dean?s Office, Comprehensive Cancer Center and others, have purchased a new Nikon CSU-W1 spinning disk confocal microscope. This base system was installed in the core just within the past month, and provides a platform for modern, live-cell and high-speed imaging particularly in cell cultures and dissociated cells. This proposal now seeks funds to acquire specific, additional components that will allow the fully configured system to address the users? research demands, including ratiometric imaging and TIRF, as well as optical manipulation during imaging. All the proposed components will be permanently integrated into the W1 system. The new instrument will be incorporated into the long-standing and successful Confocal Core Facility at the University. The presence of extensive on-campus expertise along with pledged support from experts at nearby institutions promises swift and efficient utilization of these new components and full use of the W1 microscope with these new components. The W1 is being integrated into a core with stable and well tested policies for training, and the expert staff Manager at the core has several years of experience training users on a variety of microscopes most especially for live imaging. Institutional support for this request is extremely strong, as the school just purchased the base W1 microscope outright and has long-standing and continuing commitment to support the needs of the Core for space, personnel, and administrative services. Funded by a major NCRR construction grant, the Core has recently undergone extensive renovations to house our confocal microscopes including the W1, so the instrument is in excellent physical facility located central to the Major Users. The system matches the long-term goals of the Deans of the School of Medicine and Dental School to build research resources, including commitments to encourage use of the instrument and the tracking of its productivity. Overall, the availability of this new technology in the School?s Confocal Core Facility would directly and strongly benefit the research of the Major Users. More broadly, it will add critically important new capabilities to advance NIH- sponsored research throughout a large and diverse medical research university.
The University of Maryland has established itself as an international leader in the area of biological microscopy. The instrument requested in this proposal will be used to explore new directions in our traditional areas of strength, including cardiology, neuroscience, and cancer biology. By permitting visualization of cellular- and subcellular structure and function--within living cells and living animals? this microscope will dramatically advance our efforts to bring life sciences research to bear on human health.
