A Lightsheet Microscope for an Established Core Facility

由9个由NIH资助的团队和马里兰大学医学院和研究人员组成的不同小组 护理学院申请资金购买卡尔·蔡司LightSheet 7荧光显微镜。这个新的国家- 最先进的系统将设在UMB核心共焦设施，这是一个成熟的核心设施，将 监督显微镜的使用、培训和服务。光片荧光显微镜占据了独一无二的 但对于成像完整的有机体、器官、组织和生物体来说，这是一个重要的利基市场，无论是在固定的、透明的样本中 或在活标本和胚胎中。这种成像方式填补了技术武器库中的一个重要空白 大学，拥有从电子显微镜到PET/CT和MRI的卓越成像设备，但 缺少为高分辨率、大体积成像而优化的显微镜。这在我们的国家中留下了一个越来越大的漏洞 有能力在许多历史长处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 适用于光片成像的几种组织清除方法。 在对5个系统进行评估后，主要用户和次要用户一致选择 灯单7(LS7)是最能满足他们集体需求的工具。这方面的制度支持 请求广泛而深入，与院长办公室、核心及其东道主生理学系、其他用户 科室，UM Greenebaum综合癌症中心，包括一大批教职员工 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 仪器将被纳入大学长期和成功的共焦核心设施，并 因此，将受益于稳定和久经考验的培训政策。拥有广泛的校园专业知识 加上附近机构专家的承诺支持，承诺迅速和高效地利用这一新的 技术Core的专家经理不仅有几年培训用户的经验，而且 该公司不仅生产了用于实时和固定成像的显微镜，而且还制造了另一种光片显微镜(DiSPIM)。这个 学校长期和持续地致力于支持核心对空间、人员和 行政服务。在NCRR一大笔建设赠款的资助下，核心已经经历了广泛的 翻新以容纳我们的显微镜，包括LS7，因此LS7将位于中央的一个出色的设施中 致主要用户。该系统符合学院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， 学校共焦核心设施中的这项新技术将直接和有力地促进 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 由我们的用户运营和贡献的培训补助金，LS7将添加至关重要的新功能 在一所大型和多样化的医学研究型大学中推进NIH赞助的所有方面的研究。

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.