Basement Membrane Homeostasis and Repair

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Summary Funds are requested to replace our widefield epifluorescence microscope with optical sectioning capability. Our current Zeiss Axioimager M2 with Apotome for optical sectioning is 12 years old, and we were notified by Zeiss this month that they are no longer supporting this microscope because of its age. Recently software-machine interface issues have rendered the microscope unreliable, a situation that was remedied by regular assistance of Zeiss software support. Without Zeiss’s continuing support, we are extremely vulnerable to the next malfunction and do not know how much longer we will be able to collect data for the parent grant. All the Aims of the parent R01 rely on the Axioimager M2 for analysis and quantification of fluorescently tagged basement membrane proteins in optical sections. At present we are performing the genetic screen described in Aim 2, during which time the microscope is in use about 8 hours per day. Thus, we are requesting funds to replace our microscope with the current model equivalent from Zeiss.