NIAMS Light Imaging Facility

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Researchers from 14 Sections, Laboratories, or Branches have used the Facility during the past year and 26 researchers have been newly trained to use one or more of the instruments. LIS staff have assisted Facility users to apply more demanding microscopy techniques (Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging, for example), to improve the quality of their images, and to prepare these images for publication. NIAMS publications which have benefited from such help and/or show images collected on our instruments are listed in the bibliography. LIS staff have also helped with evaluation of new instruments that Facility users are interested in. Microscopy done in LIS this to to past year has contributed to the expansion of knowledge in several NIAMS research target areas to include: i) understanding the immune system and its diseases (Kouzine et al., 2013; Layh-Schmitt et al., 2013; Aubert, P. et al. , 2013); ii) understanding cartilage and its diseases (Gabay et al, 2013); iii) understanding skin and hair development and diseases (Okano et al., 2013) iv) understanding and treating muscle diseases (Spampanato et al., 2013) and muscle organization (Oddoux et al., in press). The pool of instruments has been upgraded by the acquisition of the Leica Slidescanner 400SCN. This instrument performs scanning of whole slides with histology samples or fluorescently labeled tissue slices. For histology samples the Slidescanner works in automated mode. It produces high quality images that can be visualized online through a large range of magnifications, "a la Google map." Scanning of fluorescently labeled samples is much more demanding in setup and scanning time, and is not automated. The instrument is handled by LIS staff exclusively. In all 747 slides have been scanned for 13 users in 6 Laboratories/Branches outside of the Light Imaging Section. We have also acquired the Incucyte Zoom, the new version of the Incucyte (a microscope that fits inside a tissue culture incubator for time-lapse imaging of cells over periods of days or weeks). The Zoom allows imaging of samples labeled with 2 fluorescent markers (red and green). It has been used so far by 7 users in 4 Laboratories/Branches outside of the Light Imaging Section. Both Slidescanner and Incucyte belong to a new generation of automated instruments that produce images and on-the-fly analysis accessible remotely, from labs or offices in other buildings or even from home. We have also upgraded the SP5 confocal setup (Leica) with more sensitive internal detectors. Facility Staff have given a tour of the Facility to a group of high-school students.