Typhoon 9410 Variable Mode Imager

描述(申请人提供)：新英格兰医学中心分子心脏病研究所(MCRI)的研究人员使用体外分子生物学、细胞生物学和转基因方法来探索心血管疾病的分子机制，并验证新的治疗靶点。MCRI的调查人员寻求不同的、但互补的研究途径--其中绝大多数是由NIH支持的。MCRI的两个主要研究领域包括心肌细胞和血管生物学。我们研究了心肌细胞肥大和凋亡、血管炎症、血管收缩张力、心脏发育和细胞增殖的正常和病理生理调节和功能。在MCRI所在的塔珀研究大楼内，NIH资助的MCRI研究人员以及其他NIH资助的研究人员中，有很大一部分目前正在研究蛋白质磷酸化和基因调控。这些研究在很大程度上依赖于免疫印迹、放射自显影和微阵列分析的使用--通常是在同一个实验中。此外，这项工作的很大一部分涉及对临床样本的检查，这些样本通常只能偶尔获得，而且数量很少。同样，[转基因动物的样本--尤其是小鼠--]只提供少量的起始材料，“通常需要细分，以便使用单独的设备进行平行分析。”信号转导和基因调控研究成功的关键是能够在检测和监测低丰度大分子物种所需的高灵敏度水平下产生可重复结果的试剂和设备。目前，我们依赖的是个人研究人员陈旧、低灵敏度的设备，这大大降低了我们研究的效率、灵活性和吞吐量。一台专用的凝胶/印迹分析仪，也配备用于微阵列分析，能够使用最新的、高灵敏度的三种颜色分析方法，将极大地提高我们工作的吞吐量、重复性和灵活性。参与这项提议的美国国立卫生研究院资助的调查人员目前还不能获得这样的工具。 这项提案的目的是获得购买amersham Bioscience Typhoon 9410可变模式成像仪所需的支持，该成像仪可用于广泛的蛋白质磷酸化、信号转导和基因调控应用，这些应用构成了本提案调查人员所描述的目前由NIH资助的研究基础，并且正在不断扩大。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The investigators of the Molecular Cardiology Research Institute (MCRI) at the New England Medical Center use in vitro molecular biological, cell biological and transgenic approaches to explore the molecular mechanisms of cardiovascular disease and to validate new therapeutic targets. MCRI investigators pursue varied, yet complementary avenues of research--the vast majority of which are NIH-supported. Two broad treas of research within the MCRI include cardiomyocyte and vascular biology. We examine the normal and pathophysiologic regulation and function of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy and apoptosis, vascular inflammation, vasomotor tone, cardiac development and cell proliferation. A large fraction of NIH-funded MCRI Investigators as well as other NIH-funded Investigators within the Tupper Research Building, wherein the MCRI is housed are, as a major focus of their work, currently examining protein phosphorylation and gene regulation. These studies rely heavily on the use of western blotting, autoradiography and microarray analysis--often within the same experiment. Moreover, much of this work involves the examination of] clinical samples which are typically available only sporadically, and in fleetingly small quantities. Similarly, [samples from transgenic animals--mice especially--provide only small amounts of starting material which "often needs to be subdivided for parallel analysis using separate pieces of equipment. Key to the success of signal transduction and gene regulation research are reagents and equipment capable of generating reproducible results at the high levels of sensitivity needed to detect and monitor low abundance macromolecular species. At this time, we are relying on individual investigators', outdated, low sensitivity equipment, which substantially reduces the efficiency, flexibility and throughput of our research. A dedicated state of the art gel/blot analyzer, equipped also for microarray analysis, with the ability to use the most up to date, high sensitivity, three color analysis methods, would substantially enhance the throughput, reproducibility and flexibility of our work. Such an instrument is not currently available to the NIH-funded investigators taking part in this proposal. The purpose of this proposal is to gain the support needed to purchase an Amersham Biosciences Typhoon 9410 Variable Mode imager that can be used for the wide array of protein phosphorylation, signal transduction and gene regulation applications that comprise the current and growing NIH-funded research base described by the investigators of this proposal.