Mark I Model 68 Gamma Irradiator

描述（由申请人提供）：本提案旨在申请购买Mark I 68型铯-137伽马辐照器的资金。该仪器将位于隔离屏障动物设施附近。这种放置将满足在无病原体条件下照射小鼠和其他研究动物的能力的基本需求，然后持续饲养它们进行纵向研究。一些仪器用户需要这种能力来为骨髓移植的受体动物做好准备，以便研究宿主免疫机制以及骨髓干细胞在肿瘤发生中的作用。此外，对转基因小鼠进行辐照是研究DNA损伤反应途径和维持基因组稳定性的机制的一些研究人员的要求。辐照器还将广泛用于辐照培养的细胞和其他生物样品，其靠近用户实验室的高度可达的中心位置将极大地促进这种用途。其中包括辐射胚胎干细胞以诱导染色体缺失，人类肿瘤细胞用于开发基于辐射诱导的细胞凋亡的治疗策略，以及哺乳动物组织培养细胞用于研究DNA损伤反应。包括康奈尔核心转基因小鼠设施在内的几个用户将使用该仪器来制备用于胚胎干细胞培养物的生成和维持的辐照饲养细胞。最后，辐照器将被用于玉米减数分裂重组的研究，并作为一种手段来调节寄生虫的感染性分析宿主-病原体相互作用的额外的调查。总而言之，伽马辐照器将满足最初由17名研究人员组成的广泛而多样化的用户组的关键需求，并将显著增强康奈尔大学NIH资助的研究。该提案要求为完成NIH资助的各种研究项目所必需的仪器提供资金。这些拟议的研究将对免疫系统功能，癌症生物学和脊椎动物发育产生重要的见解，并将提高我们对某些人类疾病如何产生以及如何有效治疗的理解。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal is to request funding for the purchase of a Mark I Model 68 Cesium-137 gamma irradiator. The instrument will be located adjacent to an exclusion barrier animal facility. This placement will fulfill an essential need for the ability to irradiate mice and other research animals under pathogen-free conditions and then continuously house them for longitudinal studies. Several instrument users require this capacity to prepare recipient animals for bone marrow transplantation in order to study host immune mechanisms, as well as the role of bone marrow stem cells in tumorigenesis. In addition, the irradiation of genetically modified mice is a requirement of several investigators studying DNA damage response pathways and mechanisms for the maintenance of genomic stability. The irradiator will also be used extensively for the irradiation of cultured cells and other biological samples, and its highly accessible, central location in close proximity to user laboratories will greatly facilitate such uses. These include the irradiation of embryonic stem cells in order to induce chromosomal deletions, human tumor cells for the development of therapeutic strategies based on radiation-induced apoptosis, and mammalian tissue culture cells for studies of DNA damage responses. Several users, including the Cornell Core Transgenic Mouse Facility, will employ the instrument to prepare irradiated feeder cells for use in the generation and maintenance of embryonic stem cell cultures. Finally, the irradiator will be used by additional investigators for studies of meiotic recombination in maize and as a means to modulate parasite infectivity for analysis of host-pathogen interactions. In sum, the gamma irradiator will fulfill critical needs for a broad and diverse user group initially consisting of seventeen investigators and will significantly enhance NIH-funded research at Cornell University. This proposal requests funding for instrumentation essential to the completion of a variety of NIH-funded research projects. These proposed studies will yield important insights into immune system function, cancer biology, and vertebrate development, and will improve our understanding of how certain human diseases arise and how they can be treated effectively.