Supplement to Center for Excellence in Diabetes and Obesity Research: Implementing Biomechanics Instrumentation in the Diabetes and Obesity Center

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Abstract The parent COBRE award (P30 GM127607) focuses on the metabolic mechanisms of cardiovascular disease. The current objectives of the Center are to support molecular, cellular, and translational investigations into the cardiovascular causes and consequences of derangements in metabolism—notably those associated with diabetes and obesity. This thematic focus facilitates the sharing of both resources and expertise and promotes the development of multi-disciplinary research projects that have contributed to the long-term stability of the Center. To support the research activities of its investigators, particularly our ESI members, the Center has created and sustained (for nearly 15 years) key core facilities, which include flow cytometry, imaging and pathology, surgical models, cardiovascular function, and immunometabolic-focused mass spectrometry. Hence, the Center is uniquely positioned to establish new paradigms in cardiometabolic health while nurturing the development of ESI/NI faculty. Heart failure and ventricular remodeling are the most used models in the Center. These models involve significant biomechanical changes to the myocardium; however, there is no suitable system on the Health Sciences Center Campus to interrogate such changes in biomechanics. The requested instrument is relevant and allocable to this parent COBRE award. This supplement request outlines the Center’s need for a Bruker JPK NanoWizard 4 XP AFM (atomic force microscope). This state-of-the-art system features 30 pm noise resolution in the z-axis and 90 pm in the xy-axes, simultaneous fluorescence/diascopic light microscopy with image overlay, high speed signal capture, user programmable software (ideal for imaging facilities with multiple users), and compatibility with the Center’s existing Nikon A1 confocal microscope. These features, and many others, will serve well the users in the COBRE-funded Center, but also in other Centers and Departments across campus—where currently no atomic force microscopy system exists. The requested system will address significant unmet needs of investigators within the Center and elsewhere on campus. The Center will leverage existing infrastructure and install the new system in dedicated space. The system will be managed by an experienced team. Robust institutional support will be provided to assure effective and efficient operation of this system in the Center. Given the nearly nonexistent costs of operation, the lifetime support for software upgrades, and the relative simplicity of the system, this instrument will be self-sustainable after installation. Hence, the Bruker JPK NanoWizard 4 XP AFM will create both immediate and sustained impacts on the science performed both within the Center and in other laboratories across the Health Sciences Center Campus. This system will also be available for other qualified users, particularly those within the larger IDeA-funded KY-INBRE network in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.