DIGITAL MICROSCOPY/IMAGE ANALYSIS SYSTEM

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We are requesting funds to purchase an integrated state-of-the-art digital light microscopic image analysis system to serve a number of faculty members and their research associates in the Department of Cell Biology at Georgetown University. The light microscopes in our department are older units with no capacity to integrate with the computer or with the modern image analysis software that is now available. All of the Major Users on this application only have access to photomicroscopic equipment that is outdated. The objectives that we are using are not the best ones available, thus, in many instances the image quality suffers. None of the Major Users has a high-resolution digital camera that could be attached to a microscope and integrated with a computer. Similarly, the available image analysis system is now quite limited and unable to meet the requirements of our Major Users. We need a state-of-the-art image analysis system since each of us carries out quantitative analysis on histological slides, both for immunolocalization, in situ hybridization, and for morphometry. The image analysis software will greatly facilitate our data analysis and maximize the validity of the data. The new microscope will be equipped with bright-field, dark-field, phase, differential interference contrast, and fluorescence optics. As part of the system, we hope to purchase a dye sublimation color printer. The equipment that we wish to buy will also enable us to bypass the traditional darkroom and traditional film. We will demonstrate in this grant application that it will be cost effective to purchase two digital cameras, one specifically for color bright-field and the second, a cooled camera, for low light fluorescence. The Department of Cell Biology recently purchased a computer, a flat bed scanner, a 35-mm slide scanner, and a film recorder to produce the highest quality 35-mm slides directly from software programs such as PowerPoint or CorelDraw, and thus we have initiated the establishment of a departmental shared "Digital Darkroom" as part of our Morphology Core. The light microscopic image analysis system with the digital cameras and printer that we are requesting in this grant application will become an integral part of the Morphology Core's "Digital Darkroom".