Zeiss LSM 980 Confocal Microscope

项目概要/摘要 我们正在申请资金支持购买带有AiryScan 2的Zeiss LSM 980共聚焦显微镜。这 仪器将被安置在北卡罗来纳州大学的神经科学显微镜核心（NMC）内 (UNC)医学院。这个核心设施的任务是提供全方位的先进系统 用于固定和活体样本的细胞和分子成像，实施新的成像技术，并提供 培训、咨询、数据分析、图像处理和集中的技术专长，以支持 图像的需求，以及其他研究人员。 共聚焦显微镜是该中心提供的一项基本服务。NMC目前拥有两台700系列蔡司 共聚焦显微镜，占该设施年度使用时间的约45%（2020财年使用时间超过4，000小时） 小时使用。因为蔡司已经宣布，他们将不会提供700系列的服务合同， 显微镜，我们不能依靠这些大量使用的仪器来维持其当前的使用 可用性，并预计他们将成为更长的停机时间。因为有一个 另外四个700系列共聚焦显微镜在校园里，大量使用，并面临相同的 过时悬崖，调查人员利用这些显微镜将需要获得一个现代的共焦，以支持 他们的项目（见支持信博士阿里尔，珀杜和熊）。我们对共焦成像的需求 核心将保持并超出能力，以维持NIH资助的当前成像需求。 调查员在校园里的研究 在本申请中，通过几个不同的NIH支持项目证明了对该仪器的需求， 研究领域包括：神经生物学、细胞生物学、发育生物学、传染病和癌症生物学。我们 描述了8个NIH资助的项目，这些项目需要使用由美国国家卫生研究院提供的高分辨率光学切片。 AiryScan 2，以便在小或密集堆积的细胞内以高空间分辨率区分精细细胞特征。 体积（例如，核内RNA转录活性的位点）。此外，9个NIH资助的PI需要 LSM 980共聚焦显微镜提供更快的采集速度， 在大体积上的空间分辨率（XYZ）（例如，小鼠脑组织中的神经元树突和轴突）或 为了测量快速动力学（例如，神经元生长锥的动力学和方向性，以及细胞内 外泌体、线粒体和其它细胞区室和复合物的动力学）。 自18年前开始运营以来，NMC已成为医学研究的一个组成部分 目前，国际社会资助了60多个研究项目。蔡司LSM 980 Confocal 显微镜系统是一个必不可少的补充，以剧目的仪器提供给美国国立卫生研究院资助 研究人员不仅要保持目前对NIH资助项目的高水平关键支持， 并通过提供现代成像能力来加强他们的研究。

Project Summary/Abstract We are requesting funds to support the purchase of a Zeiss LSM 980 Confocal Microscope with AiryScan2. This instrument will be housed within the Neuroscience Microscopy Core (NMC) at the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine. The mandate of this core facility is to provide a full spectrum of advanced systems for cellular and molecular imaging of fixed and live samples, to implement new imaging technologies, and to offer training, consultation, data analysis, image processing, and centralized technical expertise to support the imaging needs of UNC and other researchers. Confocal microscopy is an essential service provided by the center. The NMC currently has two 700-series Zeiss confocal microscopes, which constitute ~45% (over 4,000 hours of usage during FY 2020) of the facility’s annual hourly usage. Because Zeiss has announced that they will not be offering service contracts for the 700-series microscopes after 9/30/2022, we cannot rely upon these heavily-used instruments to maintain their current usage availabilities, and anticipate that they will become subject to more extended down-times. As there are an additional four 700-series confocal microscopes on campus that are heavily used and facing the same obsolescence cliff, investigators utilizing these microscopes will need access to a modern confocal to support their projects (see Letters of Support from Drs. Ariel, Perdue and Bear). Demand for confocal imaging at our Core will stay at and extend beyond capacity in order to maintain the current imaging needs for NIH-funded investigator’s research on campus. The need for this instrument is demonstrated in this application with several diverse NIH supported projects in fields including; Neurobiology, Cell Biology, Developmental Biology, Infectious Disease and Cancer Biology. We describe 8 NIH-funded projects that require the use of high-resolution optical sectioning provided by the AiryScan2, in order to distinguish fine cellular features with high spatial resolution within small or densely packed volumes (e.g., sites of RNA transcriptional activity inside the nucleus). Further, 9 NIH-funded PIs require increased speed of acquisition provided by the LSM 980 Confocal Microscope to acquire datasets with confocal spatial resolution (XYZ) over either large volumes (e.g., neuronal dendrites and axons in mouse brain tissue) or to measure rapid dynamics (e.g. dynamics and directionality of the neuronal growth cone, and intracellular dynamics of exosomes, mitochondria, and other cellular compartments and complexes). Since the NMC commenced operations 18 years ago, it has become an integral part of the medical research community currently supporting over 60 funded research projects. Acquisition of a Zeiss LSM 980 Confocal Microscope system is an essential addition to the repertoire of instrumentation available to NIH-funded investigators in order to not only maintain the current high-level of critical support for NIH-funded projects, but also to enhance their research by providing modern imaging capabilities.