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

该主要研究仪器（MRI）奖支持布兰迪斯大学获得一种集成的活荧光成像系统，该系统大大提高了在细胞和溶液中对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会聚荧光模式，并将为光激活显微镜量身定制，这是一种在空间和/或时间上敏锐地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，其中旋转盘共聚焦模式配备了两个摄像头，从而实现同时检测多个荧光团的最高速度。通过利用基于led的照明和快速sCMOS相机采集的最新发展，epifluorescence模式将推动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（持续时间为几秒钟，速度为微米每秒），这些事件到目前为止很难直接测量。因此，所提出的仪器将允许一个新的空间水平（通过标记从特定位置开始的一组分子）和时间（通过标记任何给定时间的稀疏分子群体）的研究问题，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。生命所必需的细胞过程是由复杂的分子机器驱动的，这些分子机器在细胞中移动，相互作用，并在几秒钟内执行它们的功能。最近在显微镜技术上的突破大大提高了速度和分辨率，我们可以直接看到这些动态分子事件。布兰迪斯大学生物、生物化学和物理系以及马萨诸塞大学波士顿分校的研究人员将使用这种新的成像系统来解决一系列科学问题，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，促进布兰代斯大学各科学部门和波士顿科学界的跨学科合作。作为培训的一部分，我们将利用该仪器在布兰迪斯建立一个新的活细胞成像项目实验室，为我们的本科生和硕士生提供服务，这些学生可能不是研究实验室的成员，因此无法使用先进的仪器。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.