Equipment to Study Visual Cortical Development and Plasticity

*这项研究工具和仪器基金正在申请资金，以购买设备，使我们处理和成像视觉皮质发育和可塑性研究中使用的西方斑点的方式现代化。Western blotting是一种用来量化一块组织中特定蛋白质数量的技术。在神经科学中，Western blotting是用于研究调节神经可塑性的蛋白质的技术之一。在我的研究计划中，我们使用Western blotting来研究大脑中调节可塑性的神经蛋白质在发育过程中或在各种形式的异常视觉体验后如何变化。Western blotting的过程包括分离凝胶中的蛋白质，将蛋白质从凝胶中转移到膜上(也称为印迹)，用抗体探测印迹来标记特定的蛋白质条带，并扫描印迹来量化条带中的蛋白质数量。执行这些步骤需要所需的设备。需要自动化的Western印迹处理器(Freedom Rocker Blotbot 240)来执行所有抗体孵育和清洗步骤，这些步骤标记了印迹上的蛋白质带。然后，需要使用Western印迹扫描仪(天青Saffire生物分子成像仪)，通过可视化标记的条带并量化每个条带中的蛋白质含量来对印迹进行成像。它们共同提高了吞吐量，并使蛋白质印迹的处理现代化。*这一新设备将使我们能够研究动物模型视觉皮质的可塑性和人类皮质的可塑性。该设备将通过1)引入高通量方法和2)提高蛋白质定量的准确性和可靠性，使我们可以研究的蛋白质数量增加一倍以上。此外，这些设备对于培训学生来说是必不可少的，这样他们就可以利用现代最先进的工具获得研究大脑发育和可塑性的经验和专业知识。我们的研究在加拿大是独一无二的，因为我的实验室是唯一拥有死后人类视觉皮质样本库的地点。此外，我们的人类视觉皮质组织寿命库涵盖了从出生到衰老的各个年龄段，使其成为世界上其他地方找不到的稀有而宝贵的资源。由所需设备支持的研究将提供有关大脑如何随着经验发展和变化的新信息。视觉是人类的主要感觉系统，有30多个大脑皮层区域，为从视觉敏锐度到面部感知到阅读等广泛功能处理视觉信息。研究结果直接影响到我们对视觉在大脑中的处理方式的理解。此外，我们的发现可能会影响与健康相关的研究，这些研究涉及在异常发育和神经退化期间发生的神经和知觉变化。这一发现可以为致力于开发视力疾病新疗法的加拿大视觉科学研究人员提供帮助。

***This Research Tools and Instruments grant is requesting funds for equipment to modernize how we process and image the Western blots that are used in our studies of visual cortex development and plasticity. Western blotting is a technique used to quantify the amount of specific proteins in a piece of tissue. In neuroscience, Western blotting is one of the techniques used to study the proteins that regulate neuroplasticity. In my research program, we use Western blotting to study how neural proteins that regulate plasticity in the brain change during development or after various forms of abnormal visual experience.******The process of Western blotting includes separating the proteins in a gel, transferring the proteins from the gel to a membrane (also called the blot), probing the blot with antibodies to label specific protein bands, and scanning the blot to quantify the amount of protein in the bands. The requested equipment is needed to perform those steps. The automated Western blot processor (Freedom Rocker Blotbot 240) is needed to perform all of the antibody incubations and wash steps that label the protein bands on a blot. Then the Western blot scanner (Azure Saffire Biomolecular Imager) is needed to image the blot by visualizing the labelled bands and quantifying the amount of protein in each band. Together they increase throughput and modernize the processing of Western blots.******This new equipment will enable our studies about plasticity in the visual cortex of animal models and plasticity in the human cortex. The equipment will more than double the number of proteins we can study by 1) introducing high-throughput methods and 2) increasing the accuracy and reliability of the protein quantification. Furthermore, these pieces of equipment are essential for training students so that they acquire experience and expertise with modern state-of-the-art tools for studying brain development and plasticity.******Our studies are unique in Canada because my laboratory is the only site with a library of postmortem human visual cortex samples. Moreover, our lifespan library of human visual cortex tissue covers a range of ages from birth to aging, making it a rare and valuable resource not found elsewhere in the world.******The research supported by the requested equipment will provide new information about how the brain develops and changes with experience. Vision is the dominant sensory system in humans with more than 30 cortical areas that process visual information for a wide range of functions, from visual acuity to face perception to reading. The results have a direct impact on our understanding of how vision is processed in the brain. Furthermore, our findings may impact health-related studies about the neural and perceptual changes that occur during abnormal development and neurodegeneration. The findings can benefit Canadian vision science researchers working to develop new treatments for vision diseases.*****