Electron Microscope

描述（由申请人提供）：细胞和组织的高分辨率结构分析对于宾夕法尼亚州立医学院的各种项目至关重要。这些研究包括糖尿病细胞连接变化的特征，疾病和基因敲除中突触结构的改变，黑素体的结构，斑马鱼突变体的超微结构分析，细胞外基质和染色质的结构分析，以及病毒出芽机制。本申请申请资金用新的JEOL JEM-1400仪器替换我们老化和不够用的Philips 400电子显微镜。电子显微镜仪器的升级将能够更好地满足许多资助研究人员的需求，其中14人被列为本提案中的主要用户群体。虽然我们目前的仪器已经提供了许多有价值的图像，这些图像已用于出版物和支持拨款提案，但其有效性因其大量停机时间，使用复杂性和缺乏关键功能（如倾斜生成3D图像）而大大降低。此外，它的设置和使用也很复杂，这限制了设施经理和一些训练有素的人员的访问权限。为了克服这些问题，研究人员越来越多地在其他地方使用显微镜，比如州立大学校园（开车90英里），或者求助于其他没有相同分辨率的技术，比如共聚焦显微镜。在选择所需设备时，我们广泛咨询了其他机构的同事以及JEOL和飞利浦的代表。所要求的JEOL JEM- 1400显微镜具有出色的分辨率和良好的生物样品对比度，非常友好的用户界面和出色的数字成像能力。所要求的仪器将为我们的主要用户组的项目提供关键支持，但更重要的是将帮助我们更大的研究社区开发新的研究项目。请求的电子显微镜支持的许多项目为理解许多重要疾病提供了必要的智力基础。因此，它们是将知识转化为为每个人提供更好和更有效的卫生保健的关键步骤。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): High-resolution structural analysis of cells and tissues is crucial to a wide variety of projects at the Penn State College of Medicine. Such studies include characterization of changes in cellular junctions in diabetes, altered synaptic structures in disease and gene knockouts, structure of melanosomes, ultrastructural analysis of zebrafush mutants, structural analysis of extracellular matrix and of chromatin, and mechanisms of viral budding. This proposal requests funds to replace our aged and inadequate Philips 400 electron microscope with a new JEOL JEM-1400 instrument. The upgrading of electron microscopy instrumentation will enable to better serve the needs of many funded investigators, of whom 14 are listed as the major users group in this proposal. Although our current instrument has provided many valuable images that have been used in publications and to support grant proposals, its effectiveness is greatly diminished by its substantial down time, complexity of use and lack of key features such as tilt to generate 3D images. Also it is complex to set up and use, which has limited access to the facility manager and a few highly trained individuals. To overcome these problems investigators have been increasingly utilizing the microscopes elsewhere, such as the State College campus (a ninety mile drive) or have been resorting to other techniques that do not have the same resolving power, such as confocal microscopy. In choosing the requested equipment we have consulted extensively with colleagues at other institutions and representatives of both JEOL and Philips. The requested JEOL JEM- 1400 microscope has excellent resolution and good contrast of biological samples, is very user friendly and has excellent digital image capability. The requested instrument will provide crucial support to our major users group's projects, but more importantly will aid the development of new research projects in our larger research community. Many of the projects supported by the requested electron microscope provide the essential intellectual underpinnings of the understanding of many important diseases. As such they are a key step in translating knowledge into better and more efficient health care for everyone.