Cellular Imaging Core

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PROJECT SUMMARY: Cellular Imaging Core Advanced cellular microscopy is a powerful tool for biological research and has an important role to play in the study of disease pathogenesis, which may translate eventually to novel treatment approaches for rheumatic diseases. Imaging technology has evolved rapidly over the last decade leading to improvements in resolution, sensitivity and speed, which have created fundamentally new opportunities for studying processes across many orders of magnitude and in real-time in living cells and animals. At the same time, the costs of increasingly sophisticated equipment are substantial and the expertise to efficiently use, maintain, and develop this equipment is not common in most labs. There is, therefore, a significant gap between the availability of these powerful tools and the ability of individual investigators to access and use them efficiently. The Cellular Imaging Core was created in response to feedback from Rheumatic Diseases Research Resource-based Center members to leverage the significant institutional investment in the newly created Washington University Center for Cellular Imaging (WUCCI) and provide an integrated approach to investigate the structure and dynamic behavior of cells and tissues rheumatic disease-related model systems. The overall objective of the Core is to provide access to and technical support in using advanced cellular microscopy tools to accelerate the pace, expand the scope, and improve efficiency of rheumatic diseases research. The Core services meet the unique requirements of numerous investigators over a wide range of basic and translational research, attracting new investigators into rheumatic diseases research areas. Importantly the users benefit from the in-depth technical expertise of the Core Director and technical staff in the time spent in consultation for experimental design and interpretation of data. During the last fiscal year (July 1 2016 – June 30 2017) of WUCCI operations, the Core served 184 research laboratories, 11 of these were RDRRC members whose usage represented ~10% of the overall core consumption. It is anticipated that requests for Cellular Imaging Core services will continue to grow given the overwhelming need for advanced microscopic imaging and image analysis approaches in the study of rheumatic diseases. The Cellular Imaging Core will provide essential services that will enable and accelerate the research of RDRRC investigators throughout the next funding cycle.