A Lightsheet Microscope for an Established Core Facility

一个由9个NIH资助的团队和马里兰州大学医学院的研究人员组成的多元化小组， 护理学院申请资金购买卡尔蔡司Lightsheet 7荧光显微镜。这个新国家- 最先进的系统将位于UMB核心共焦设施，这是一个完善的核心设施，将 监督显微镜的使用、培训和服务。光片荧光显微术占据了独特的 但对于成像完整的类器官，器官，组织和生物体，无论是在固定，清除样本的重要利基 或活的标本和胚胎中。这种成像方式填补了美国国家航空航天局技术库中的一个重要空白。 该大学拥有从电子显微镜到PET/CT和MRI等规模的优秀成像设备， 缺乏一个优化的显微镜，用于高分辨率，大体积成像。这给我们的国家留下了一个越来越大的漏洞， 有能力在许多具有历史优势的领域进行相关研究。考虑到这一点， 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调整 几种适合于光片成像的组织清除方法。 在对5个系统进行评估后，主要用户和次要用户一致选择了 Lightsheet 7（LS 7）作为最能满足他们集体需求的工具。为此提供机构支持 要求是广泛和深入的，与院长办公室，核心和它的主机生理学系，其他用户 部门，UM Greenebaum综合癌症中心，包括大量的教师 承诺资金和许多其他形式的支持，以购买和维护这一新的LS 7。新 仪器将被纳入该大学长期和成功的共焦核心设施， 因此，将受益于稳定和久经考验的培训政策。广泛的校园专业知识的存在 沿着来自附近机构专家的承诺支持， 技术.专家经理在核心不仅有几年的经验，培训用户对各种 该公司是用于实时和固定成像的显微镜的先驱，甚至还制造了一种替代光片显微镜（diSPIM）。的 学校有长期和持续的承诺，以支持空间，人员和核心的需求， 行政服务。由一个主要的NCRR建设赠款资助，核心已经经历了广泛的 翻新，以容纳我们的显微镜，包括LS 7，所以LS 7将在一个优秀的设施位于中央 对于主要用户。该系统符合学校建立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率。总而言之， 这种新技术在学校的共焦核心设施将直接和强烈有利于研究的 主要用户。更广泛地说，通过纳入年度研究生课程，并支持许多 由我们的用户提供培训赠款，LS 7将增加至关重要的新能力， 推进NIH赞助的研究在整个大型和多样化的医学研究型大学的各个方面。

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.