Confocal microscope for muscle health research

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Microscopy is a fundamental tool for scientific investigation in the biological and life sciences. At York University we have a large number of researchers in the Department of Biology, the School of Kinesiology and Health Science, and the Muscle Health Research Centre (MHRC) that require the use of fluorescence confocal microscopy. We currently have a fluorescent microscope which is useful for visualizing cellular structures in fixed cells. In this application we are requesting funds to upgrade this model to allow for live cell imaging of various layers of the cell to allow for a more accurate and detailed analysis of cellular organelles, like mitochondria, nuclei and lysosomes. This is a much more powerful approach for the study of cell biology under different physiological conditions (eg. muscle contraction, drug treatment). As the Director of the MHRC, I am submitting this application on behalf of numerous (37) faculty members in these 3 research units above who do cell biology research that potentially could make use of this equipment. Several of these faculty members are major users who employ it regularly. This equipment will increase our capacity for this fundamental cell analysis and dissipate the logjam of users who currently travel to another building to use the one other functional instrument on the York University campus.