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

MRI：采购用于布兰代斯大学研究和教学的集成实时成像系统

• 批准号: 1228757
• 负责人: Bruce Goode
• 金额: $ 43.6万
• 依托单位: Brandeis University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-08-01 至 2013-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1228757&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; Acquisition; integrated; live; imaging

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.

这项重大研究仪器（MRI）奖支持布兰代斯大学收购一个集成的实时荧光成像系统，大大提高了细胞和溶液中动态事件成像的速度和分辨率。该系统将配备旋转盘共聚焦和落射荧光模式，并将被定制为光活化显微镜，一个优雅的方法来标记小群体的荧光分子在空间和/或时间急剧。该仪器将使用新开发的设置，其中旋转盘共聚焦模态配备有两个摄像头，能够以最大速度同时检测多个荧光团。落射荧光模式将通过利用基于LED的照明和快速sCMOS相机采集的最新发展来推动快速荧光成像的极限。这些新技术将允许研究极其快速的生物事件（持续时间为几秒钟，速度为每秒几微米），直到现在还很难直接测量。因此，拟议的文书将使空间（通过标记在特定位置开始的一组分子）和时间（通过在任何给定时间标记稀疏的分子群体）对研究问题的研究，从细胞骨架动力学，细胞膜运输和信号传导到感觉处理和突触形成。生命所必需的细胞过程由复杂的分子机器驱动，通过细胞，相互作用，并在几秒钟内执行它们的功能。最近显微镜技术的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的生物学、生物化学和物理学系以及波士顿马萨诸塞州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，促进跨科学部门在布兰迪斯和波士顿科学界的跨学科合作。作为此次培训的一部分，我们将利用该仪器在布兰代斯为我们的本科生和硕士生建立一个新的活细胞成像项目实验室，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。