Multi-User Time-Resolved Fluorescence Spectrometer

描述（由申请人提供）：自1988年以来，荧光光谱中心（CFS）为该校园的科学家提供了时间分辨测量，产生了200多篇同行评审的出版物。这种检测现在已经过时或者没有功能了。美国国立卫生研究院资助的马里兰大学巴尔的摩分校（UMB）的主要研究人员（pi）对最先进的荧光寿命光谱仪有科学需求，以支持和加强他们的美国国立卫生研究院资助的研究。所要求的仪器是最近开发的现代计算机控制的荧光光谱仪，它可以进行自动时间分辨测量。FluoTime 300“Easy Tau”是PicoQuant的一款新仪器，旨在为生物研究人员提供方便的时间分辨测量。该仪器将设在UMB的荧光光谱学中心（CFS）并由其管理，供整个UMB的pi使用。该仪器将自动收集荧光强度、荧光偏振（FP）、各向异性衰减、时间分辨发射光谱、衰减相关光谱和荧光共振能量转移（FRET）。目前，我们进行时间分辨测量的能力有限。我们有一个基于led的频率域（FD）仪器，灵敏度非常低，一个时域仪器，只使用光学滤波器进行波长选择。这些仪器只能由光谱学家操作，不能支持UMB时间分辨测量的需求。该中心有广泛的软件时间分辨荧光使用频域方法。在生物化学和分子生物学部门的支持下，这个有价值的软件将被修改为TCSPC测量。在用户费用短缺的情况下，医学院保证为服务合同提供五年的支持。PicoQuant FT300将100%由10个主要用户使用，由14个NIH资助，由8个次要用户使用，由3个NIH资助。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Center for Fluorescence Spectroscopy (CFS) has provided time-resolved measurements to scientists on this campus since 1988, resulting in over 200 peer-reviewed publications. This instrumentation is now obsolete or nonfunctional. NIH-funded principal investigators (PIs) at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) have a scientific need for a state-of-the-art fluorescence lifetime spectrofluorometer to support and enhance their NIH funded research. The requested instrument is a modern recently developed computer controlled spectrofluorometer which performs automated time-resolved measurements. The FluoTime 300 "Easy Tau" is a new instrument from PicoQuant designed to make time-resolved measurements easily available to biological researchers. This instrument will be located in and managed by the Center for Fluorescence Spectroscopy (CFS) at UMB and will be available for PIs throughout UMB. This instrument will provide automated collection of fluorescence intensity, fluorescence polarization (FP), anisotropy decays, time- resolved emission spectra, decay-associated spectra, and fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). At present we have limited capabilities for time-resolved measurements. We have one LED-based frequency- domain (FD) instrument with very low sensitivity and one time-domain instrument which uses only optical filters for wavelength selection. These instruments can only be operated by spectroscopists and cannot support the demand for time-resolved measurements of UMB. The CFS has extensive software for time-resolved fluorescence using the frequency-domain method. With support from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology this valuable software will be modified for TCSPC measurements. The School of Medicine guarantees support for the service contract for five years in the event of a shortage from user fees. The PicoQuant FT300 will be used 100% of the time by 10 major users supported by 14 NIH grants and by 8 minor users supported by 3 NIH grants.