Multiphoton Facility for Intravital Imaging

描述(申请人提供)：需要Prairie Technologies的多光子激光显微镜(MPLM)系统。定制系统将与西北大学多光子中心核心合作组装。该系统由Prairie和西北大学的科学家开发，配备了同时进行生理测量的软件和硬件，由两个站点组成：一个能够为活动物的组织成像，另一个用于组织切片。该仪器将被安置在芝加哥伊利诺伊大学的研究资源中心(RRC)。RRC的快速扩展的成像设施为UIC和周围机构的所有研究小组提供了全方位的EM、光学和图像分析能力。所要求的MPLM和相关技术特别适合于对位于活组织切片或活动物深处的细胞中的分子和结构进行成像。需要这些方法的实验不能用UIC目前的仪器进行。了解复杂的病理过程所需的智力和技术资源已经到位，这些过程涉及分子的细胞内和细胞间运输、各种模型系统的发育、细胞骨架重塑、轴突运输、免疫学、病毒进入、肿瘤形成、信号和分子成像。MPLM技术将在推进我们的研究计划以及促进具有不同但兼容兴趣的调查人员之间的互动方面发挥关键作用。作为一个整体，我们的总体目标是了解特定组织中发生的动态分子事件。这在神经系统、发育中的胚胎、内分泌器官等复杂组织中尤为关键，在这些组织中，不同细胞类型之间的关系无法在隔离培养中复制。MPLM成像将为我们提供迄今为止无法获得的窗口，了解参与细胞内运输、细胞信号传递和发病机制的关键蛋白之间的基本分子相互作用。作为一个跨学科的研究小组，我们在发育、细胞生理学、神经科学、病毒学和免疫学方面拥有基础和应用研究计划，为这种仪器的需求提供了基础。建议中的MPLM系统的加入将提供与NIH资助的几个关键研究人员相关的独特能力，我们在轴突运输和神经变性、病毒进入和运输、细胞骨架蛋白重塑、癌症、免疫学、信号转导和分子成像方面拥有全国公认的记录。我们相信，所获得的洞察力将有可能在艾滋病毒预防、癌症、自身免疫性疾病、糖尿病和神经退化方面开创新的治疗目标和战略。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A multiphoton laser microscopy (MPLM) system from Prairie Technologies is requested. The custom system will be assembled in collaboration with the Northwestern University Multiphoton Center Core. The system, developed by Prairie and Northwestern Scientists with software and hardware for simultaneous physiological measurements, consists of two stations: one capable of imaging tissue of live animals, the other for tissue slices. The instrument will be housed in the Research Resources Center (RRC) of the University of Illinois at Chicago. The rapidly expanding Imaging Facility of the RRC provides all research groups at UIC and surrounding institutions access to a full range of EM, optical and image analysis capabilities. The requested MPLM and associated technologies are uniquely suited to imaging of molecules and structures in cells located deep within live tissue sections or living animals. Experiments that require these methodologies cannot be undertaken with the instruments currently at UIC. The intellectual and technological resources necessary to understand complex pathological processes that involve intra and intercellular transport of molecules, development in various model systems, cytoskeletal remodeling, axonal transport, immunology, viral entry, tumor formation, signaling and molecular imaging are in place. The MPLM technology will be critical in advancing our research programs as well as fostering interactions among investigators with diverse but compatible interests. Our overall objective as a group is to understand the dynamic molecular events that occur within the context of specific tissues. This is particularly critical in complex tissues like the nervous system, developing embryos, endocrine organs, where relationships between different cell types cannot be replicated in isolated cultures. MPLM imaging will provide us with heretofore unavailable windows on basic molecular interactions among key proteins involved in intracellular trafficking, cell signaling, and pathogenesis. Our strengths, as an interdisciplinary research group with basic and applied research programs in Development, Cell Physiology, Neuroscience, Virology and Immunology, provide the basis of the need for this instrumentation. The addition of the proposed MPLM system will provide a unique capability relevant to several key NIH funded investigators where we have a nationally-recognized track-record in axonal transport and neurodegeneration, virus entry and trafficking, cytoskeletal protein remodeling, cancer, immunology, signal transduction, and molecular imaging. We believe that the insights gained will have the potential for pioneering new therapeutic targets and strategies in HIV prevention, cancer, autoimmune disease, diabetes, and neurodegeneration.