A Lightsheet Microscope for an Established Core Facility

马里兰大学医学院由 9 个 NIH 资助的团队和研究人员组成的多元化小组 护理学院申请资金购买 Carl Zeiss Lightsheet 7 荧光显微镜。这个新状态—— 最先进的系统将位于 UMB 核心共聚焦设施中，这是一个完善的核心设施，将 监督显微镜的使用、培训和维修。光片荧光显微镜占有独特的地位 但在固定、透明样品中对完整类器官、器官、组织和生物体进行成像的重要利基 或在活体标本和胚胎中。这种成像方式填补了技术库中的一个重要空白 大学，拥有从电子显微镜到 PET/CT 和 MRI 等各种规模的出色成像设施，但 缺乏针对高分辨率、大体积成像而优化的显微镜。这给我们留下了一个不断扩大的漏洞 能够在许多历史悠久的领域进行相关研究。考虑到这一点，核心设施 组织了一系列仪器演示，用户实验室投入了大量精力来采用和适应 几种适合光片成像的组织清除方法。 经过对5个系统的评估，主要用户和次要用户一致选择了 Lightsheet 7 (LS7) 是最能满足他们集体需求的工具。对此的制度支持 要求广泛而深入，与院长办公室、核心及其主办生理学系、其他用户 部门，UM Greenebaum 综合癌症中心，包括大量的教职人员 承诺资金和许多其他形式的支持来购买和维护这款新的 LS7。新的 仪器将被纳入大学历史悠久且成功的共聚焦核心设施中，并且 因此，他们将受益于稳定且经过充分检验的培训政策。广泛的校园专业知识的存在 加上附近机构专家承诺的支持，承诺迅速有效地利用这一新的 技术。核心专家经理不仅拥有多年对用户进行各种培训的经验 的显微镜用于实时和固定成像，但甚至还建造了替代光片显微镜（diSPIM）。的 学校长期持续致力于支持核心部门对空间、人员和资源的需求 行政服务。在 NCRR 建设拨款的资助下，核心区经历了广泛的改造 翻新以容纳我们的显微镜（包括 LS7），因此 LS7 将位于位于市中心的绝佳设施中 给主要用户。该系统符合学院建设研究资源的长期目标，包括 承诺鼓励使用该工具并跟踪其生产力。总而言之，可用性 学院共焦核心设施中的这项新技术将直接而有力地有利于该领域的研究 主要用户。更广泛地说，通过纳入年度研究生课程并支持众多 LS7 将为我们的用户提供至关重要的新功能 在一所大型多元化的医学研究大学中推进 NIH 资助的研究的各个方面。

A diverse group of 9 NIH-funded teams and investigators at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and School of Nursing request funds to purchase a Carl Zeiss Lightsheet 7 fluorescence microscope. This new state- of-the-art system will be situated in the UMB Core Confocal Facility, a well-established core facility that will oversee use, training, and service for the microscope. Lightsheet fluorescence microscopy occupies a unique but important niche for imaging intact organoids, organs, tissues, and organisms, both in fixed, cleared samples or in live specimens and embryos. This imaging modality fills an important gap in the technical arsenal of the university, which has excellent facilities for imaging at scales from electron microscopy to PET/CT and MRI but lacks a microscope optimized for high-resolution, large-volume imaging. This has left a widening hole in our ability to conduct relevant research in many of the areas of historic strength. With this in mind, the Core Facility organized a series of instrument demos, and user labs have dedicated substantial effort to adopt and adapt several tissue clearing methods suited to lightsheet imaging. After evaluation of 5 systems, the Major and Minor Users were unanimous in their selection of the Lightsheet 7 (LS7) as the instrument which would best meet their collective needs. Institutional support for this request is broad and deep, with the Dean’s Office, the Core and its host Department of Physiology, other user departments, the UM Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center and including a substantial group of faculty committing funds and numerous other forms of support to purchase and maintain this new LS7. The new instrument will be incorporated into the long-standing and successful Confocal Core Facility at the University and will thus benefit from stable and well-tested policies for training. The presence of extensive on-campus expertise along with pledged support from experts at nearby institutions promises swift and efficient utilization of this new technology. The expert Manager at the Core not only has several years of experience training users on a variety of microscopes for live and fixed imaging but has even built an alternative lightsheet microscope (diSPIM). The school 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 undergone extensive renovations to house our microscopes including the LS7, so the LS7 will be in an excellent facility located central to the Major Users. The system meets the long-term goals of the School to build research resources, including commitments to encourage use of the instrument and the tracking of its productivity. In sum, 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, by incorporation to annual graduate course offerings and supporting numerous training grants run by and contributed to by our users, the LS7 will add critically important new capabilities to advance all aspects of NIH-sponsored research throughout a large and diverse medical research university.