MRI: Acquisition of an integrated live imaging system for research and teaching at Brandeis University

这项重大研究仪器(MRI)奖支持布兰代斯大学收购一种集成的实时荧光成像系统，该系统可以极大地提高在细胞和溶液中对动态事件进行成像的速度和分辨率。该系统将配备旋转圆盘共聚焦和荧光荧光模式，并将为光活化显微镜量身定做，这是一种在空间和/或时间准确标记小群体荧光分子的优雅方法。该仪器将使用一种新开发的装置，其中旋转圆盘共聚焦模式配备了两个摄像头，使同时检测多个荧光团的速度达到最大。通过利用基于LED的照明的最新发展和快速的sCMOS机采集，荧光模式将突破快速荧光成像的极限。这些新技术将允许研究极快的生物事件(持续时间为几秒，速度为每秒微米)，而到目前为止，直接测量这些事件是极其困难的。因此，拟议的仪器将允许一个新的水平的空间(通过标记一组从特定位置开始的分子)和时间(通过标记任何给定时间的稀疏分子群体)研究从细胞骨架动力学、膜交通和信号转导到感觉处理和突触形成的研究问题。生命所必需的细胞过程由复杂的分子机器驱动，这些机器在细胞中移动，相互作用，并在几秒钟内执行其功能。最近在显微镜方面的技术突破大大提高了我们可以直接看到这些动态分子事件的速度和分辨率。Brandeis生物、生物化学和物理系以及波士顿马萨诸塞大学的研究人员将使用新的成像系统来解决广泛的科学问题，从神经元如何形成突触到简单的生物分子如何自组装成复杂的力量产生机器。该仪器将培训本科生、研究生和博士后研究员，促进布兰代斯大学和波士顿科学界科学系之间的跨学科合作。作为此次培训的一部分，我们将利用该仪器在布兰代斯建立一个新的活细胞成像项目实验室，供我们的本科生和硕士学生使用，他们可能不是研究实验室的成员，因此无法获得先进的仪器。该仪器将整合教育、培训和研究，为细胞和试管中分子的动力学和相互作用提供新的基本见解。

This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) award supports the acquisition by Brandeis University of an integrated live fluorescence imaging system that greatly increases the speed and resolution at which dynamic events can be imaged in cells and in solution. The system will be equipped with both spinning disk confocal and epifluorescence modes, and will be tailored for photoactivation microscopy, an elegant approach to label small populations of fluorescent molecules acutely in space and/or time. The instrument will use a newly developed setup in which the spinning disk confocal modality is equipped with two cameras, enabling maximum speed for simultaneous detection of multiple fluorophores. The epifluorescence modality will push the limits of fast fluorescence imaging by taking advantage of the most recent developments in LED-based illumination and rapid sCMOS camera acquisition. These new technologies will permit the study of extremely rapid biological events (with durations of a few seconds and velocities of micrometers per second) that until now have been extremely difficult to measure directly. Thus, the proposed instrument will allow a new level of spatial (by labeling a set of molecules starting at a particular location) and temporal (by labeling a sparse population of molecules at any given time) investigation into research problems ranging from cytoskeletal dynamics, membrane traffic and signal transduction to sensory processing and synapse formation.Cellular processes essential for life are driven by complex molecular machines that move through the cell, interact with each other, and execute their functions in seconds. Recent technological breakthroughs in microscopy have greatly improved the speed and resolution at which we can directly see these dynamic molecular events. Researchers at Brandeis across the Biology, Biochemistry, and Physics departments and at the University of Massachusetts, Boston will use the new imaging system to tackle a broad range of scientific problems, ranging from how a neuron forms synapses to how simple biological molecules self-assemble into complex force-generating machines. This instrument will train undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, fostering interdisciplinary collaborations across science departments at Brandeis and in the Boston science community. As part of this training, we will take advantage of the instrument to establish a new project laboratory in live-cell imaging at Brandeis for our undergraduate and Masters students who may not be members of a research laboratory and therefore would not otherwise have access to an advanced instrument. This instrument will integrate education, training and research to provide new fundamental insights into the dynamics and interactions of molecules in cells and in the test tube.