Core C: Histopathology and Histomorphometry Core

目前的组织学核心是在2004年在COBRE的干细胞和祖细胞中建立的 细胞生物学（8P20GM103465），与Dr. Lindner作为核心主任。服务包括 冷冻和石蜡包埋切片标本的固定、包埋和处理， 常规和特殊组织学染色和基本免疫组化的光谱。我们的员工有 开发和优化免疫组织化学程序的专业知识，包括抗原修复， 优化存档组织和各种检测方法。这一核心的成功吸引了 来自我们血管生物学姐妹公司COBRE的用户，缅因州医学中心的其他研究人员， 区域客户，包括来自邻近的IDEA州。我们的服务需求量很大， 2011年，我们的COBRE在血管生物学（P30GM103392）共同资助的组织学核心， 增加研究人员以扩大能力，并增加组织微阵列服务。共同筹资 这一机制极为有效，使服务得以有效扩展。核心与其 现有工作人员（核心主任和两名全职工作人员）执行40，000多项程序 在过去的十年里，它直接支持了90多份出版物。目前使用的是 再次在能力，并在这个第一阶段的新项目COBRE在间充质和神经调节 代谢网络的发展需要广泛的组织处理和组织病理学服务， 用于骨骼组织处理和组织形态测定，这在我们的研究中以前不受支持。 院因此，作为COBRE应用程序的一部分，我们建议将现有核心扩展为 组织学和组织形态学核心，增加一名工作人员， 组织形态测定服务。建立矿化组织和骨的组织学技术 组织形态计量学将满足我们的COBRE项目和其他项目对这些服务的迫切需求。 目前正在使用该核心的研究人员。这反过来又会提高我们的竞争力。 研究人员通过推进科学进步。该核心将充分利用现有设备， 仪器从以前的COBRE支持中获得，如NIGMS所鼓励的那样。我们的战略 本申请中提议的扩大与目前的任何供资来源都不重叠。的 该提案的具体目标是：1）满足不断增长的需求，支持COBRE项目， 支持新的全职工作人员，2）建立新的塑料嵌入和切片，以允许 扩大对钙化组织的分析，以及3）建立新的骨组织形态测量服务， 支持COBRE项目和其他需要骨骼分析的研究人员。

The current Histopathology Core was established in 2004 within the COBRE in Stem and Progenitor Cell Biology (8P20GM103465), with Dr. Volkhard Lindner as the Core Director. Services included fixation, embedding, and processing of specimens for frozen and paraffin embedded sections and a spectrum of routine and specialty histological stains and basic immunohistochemistry. Our staff has expertise to develop and optimize immunohistochemistry procedures, including antigen retrieval, optimization in archival tissues, and various detection methods. The success of this Core attracted users from our sister COBRE in Vascular Biology, other investigators at Maine Medical Center, and regional clients, including from neighboring IDeA states. Our services were in high demand, and led in 2011 to our COBRE in Vascular Biology (P30GM103392) co-funding the Histopathology Core to increase research staff for expanded capacity, and add tissue microarray services. This co-funding mechanism has been extremely effective, allowing for efficient expansion of services. The Core with its current staff (Core Director and two full-time staff members) performs more than 40,000 procedures annually, and in the past ten years has directly supported over ninety publications. Current usage is again at capacity, and the new projects in this Phase I COBRE in Mesenchymal and Neural Regulation of Metabolic Networks require extensive tissue processing and histopathology services, with new needs for skeletal tissue processing and histomorphometry, which previously were not supported at our Institute. Thus, as part of this COBRE application, we propose an expansion of the existing Core into the Histopathology and Histomorphometry Core, with one additional staff member and new skeletal histomorphometry services. Establishing histological techniques for mineralized tissues and bone histomorphometry will meet the urgent demand for these services by our COBRE projects and other researchers who currently utilize this Core. This in turn will increase the competitiveness of our investigators by advancing scientific progress. This Core will fully utilize the existing equipment and instrumentation garnered from previous COBRE support, as encouraged by NIGMS. Our strategic expansion proposed in this application is non-overlapping with any current funding source. The specific aims of this proposal are to: 1) meet growing need and support COBRE projects by supporting a new full-time staff member, 2) establish new plastic embedding and sectioning to allow for expanded analysis of calcified tissues, and 3) establish new bone histomorphometry services to support the COBRE projects and other investigators requiring skeletal analysis.