OLYMPUS FLUOVIEW CONFOCAL LASER SCANNING MICROSCOPE

描述(由申请者提供)：申请资金购买奥林巴斯FluoView FV500共聚焦激光扫描显微镜，该显微镜将集成到UCSB共享显微镜设施中。这一成熟的设施为UCSB调查人员提供核心显微设备和技术支持已超过15年。拟议的共焦显微镜将使共享显微镜设施的承诺永久化，为UCSB研究社区提供最先进的工具。所要求的仪器将取代已有7年历史的BioRad 1024显微镜，后者现在受到可靠性差、可维护性下降和缺乏升级潜力的严重限制。新的显微镜将在可用激光激发波长的数量、定量分析能力和活细胞成像方面具有更强的能力。此外，新仪器在激光控制和图像捕获的改进的计算硬件和软件、卓越的分辨率和更大的视场能力方面具有优势。发起这项提议的11名主要研究人员代表了五个不同的学术部门或研究单位，包括神经科学研究所、分子、细胞和发育生物学系、心理学系、化学和生物化学系以及生物分子科学和工程系的跨部门计划。每一个都有目前由美国国立卫生研究院支持的研究项目，其中共焦显微镜是一个关键的研究组成部分。这些研究集中在生物医学问题上，包括阿尔茨海默氏症和帕金森氏症等神经元退行性疾病，老年性黄斑变性和视网膜脱离等眼部病理，癌症生物学和药理学，传染病的细胞和分子生物学，以及神经元生理学和发育。共享显微镜设施中的共焦显微镜是这些研究人员在UCSB校园内唯一可用的显微镜。目前的显微镜已被广泛使用，产生的数据在过去五年中已在40多份同行评议的出版物中发表。预计这一生产力水平将继续扩大，因为拟议的仪器提供的共同重点研究的应用程序越来越多，以及其简化的数据处理能力和卓越的可靠性特点。增强的多重标记能力和支持活细胞研究的能力将使研究人员能够探索新的研究途径，这是我们目前的仪器无法达到的。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Funds are requested for the purchase of an Olympus Fluoview FV500 confocal laser scanning microscope, which will be integrated into the UCSB Shared Microscopy Facility. This established facility has been providing core microscopic equipment and technical support to UCSB investigators for over 15 years. The proposed confocal microscope will perpetuate the commitment of the Shared Microscopy Facility to provide state-of-the art tools for the UCSB research community. The instrument requested will replace a seven-year-old BioRad 1024 microscope that is now seriously limited by poor reliability, decreasing repairability, and lack of potential for upgrade. The new microscope will have increased capabilities in terms of the number of available laser excitation wavelengths, the capacity for quantitative analyses, and the imaging of living cells. In addition, the new instrument affords advantages in terms of improved computational hardware and software for laser control and image capture, superior resolution, and larger field of view capabilities. The eleven principal investigators sponsoring this proposal represent five different academic departments or research units including the Neuroscience Research Institute, Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Department of Psychology, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and the Interdepartmental Program in Biomolecular Sciences and Engineering. Each has current NIH-supported research projects in which confocal microscopy is a critical investigational component. These investigations focus upon biomedical issues, including neuronal degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, ocular pathologies such as age-related macular degeneration and retina] detachment, cancer biology and pharmacology, cell and molecular biology of infectious disease, as well as neuronal physiology and development. The confocal microscope in the Shared Microscopy Facility is the only one on the UCSB campus available to these investigators. The current microscope has been extensively utilized, generating data that has been presented in over 40 peer-reviewed publications in the last five years. It is anticipated that this level of productivity will continue to expand as a consequence of an increasing number of applications for confocal studies afforded by the proposed instrumentation, as well as its streamlined data handling capabilities and superior reliability characteristics. The enhanced multi-labeling capabilities and capacity to support living cell studies will allow investigators to explore novel research avenues that are unapproachable with our current instrumentation.