Confocal Microscope for Parasitological Studies

该提案要求提供资金，用于购买Zeiss LSM 510 Meta激光共聚焦显微镜系统和图像处理配件，供纽约大学医学院医学系、分子寄生虫学系和病理学系的研究人员使用。由于Skirball研究所的共享共聚焦显微镜设施已停止使用，细胞生物学系的蔡司LSM 510也受到限制，寄生虫学教师无法再在NYUSM进行共聚焦显微镜检查。因此，共享共聚焦显微镜设施对于继续进行中的研究和启动新项目至关重要。预计该设施将大力加强新项目，促进新的调查领域的开放，并加强参与调查人员之间的现有合作。 由于共聚焦设施将位于昆虫和细胞培养和动物设施附近，它将使许多研究人员能够首次使用活寄生虫进行动态研究。共聚焦显微镜将是本提案中主要研究项目的重要工具，使参与者能够研究各种原生动物寄生虫与其宿主细胞之间的关系以及受感染细胞与宿主免疫系统之间的相互作用机制。大多数拟议的项目涉及在亚细胞水平上检查寄生虫以及各种哺乳动物细胞类型和组织，特别强调活细胞研究。在这些不同的项目中使用的实验方法是相当多样化的，涉及分子和细胞生物学 方法，以及免疫学和生物化学技术。由于研究中的许多细胞内微生物和细胞器的尺寸很小，并且强调亚细胞定位和细胞内转运，计划中的研究需要最先进的仪器。这种仪器必须能够提供最高的可获得的分辨率和高效率的光检测，以及目前可用的同时或顺序扫描的多个通道的最精确的配准。为了有效利用作为寄生虫学研究的共享资源，该系统必须是用户友好的，必须在获得数据所需的时间方面有效运作，并且必须位于医学和分子寄生虫学系。所有这些要求都可以通过共享蔡司LSM 510 Meta激光扫描共焦系统来满足。

This proposal requests funds to purchase a Zeiss LSM 510 META laser confocal microscope system and image processing accessories to be used by investigators from of the Departments of Medical and Molecular Parasitology and Pathology at the New York University School of Medicine. Since the shared Confocal Microscopy Facility of the Skirball Institute was discontinued and access to the Zeiss LSM 510 in the Department of Cell Biology was restricted, parasitology faculty can no longer perform confocal microscopy at NYUSM. A shared confocal microscopy facility is therefore essential to continue ongoing research and to start new projects. This facility is expected to strongly enhance new projects, foster the opening of new areas of investigation, and intensify current collaborations among participating investigators. Because the confocal facility will be located in close proximity to insectaries and cell culture and animal facilities, it will enable many of the investigators to perform, for the first time, dynamic studies using living parasites. Confocal Microscopy will be an essential tool for the major research projects included in this proposal, allowing the participants to investigate relationships between various protozoan parasites and their host cells as well as mechanisms of interaction between infected cells and the immune system of the host. Most of the proposed projects involve the examination of parasites as well as various mammalian cell types and tissues at a subcellular level, with a strong emphasis on live cell studies. The experimental approaches being used in these various projects are quite diverse, involving molecular and cell biological methodologies, as well as immunological and biochemical techniques. Due to the small size of many of the intracellular microorganisms and cell organelles under investigation, and the emphasis on subcellular localization and intracellular transport, the planned studies require the most advanced instrumentation available. This instrumentation must be capable of providing the highest obtainable resolution and a high efficiency of light detection, as well as the most precise registration of multiple channels scanned simultaneously or sequentially that is currently available. For effective use as a shared resource for parasitology studies, the system must be user friendly, must operate efficiently in terms of the time required to obtain the data, and must be located in the Department of Medical and Molecular Parasitology. All these requirements can be met by a shared Zeiss LSM 510 META laser scanning confocal system.