Confocal Microscope Upgrade for Development, Physiology & Evo-Devo Studies

共焦显微镜升级用于发育、生理学

• 批准号: RTI-2022-00088
• 负责人: Leys, Sally
• 金额: $ 10.93万
• 依托单位: University of Alberta
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Research Tools and Instruments
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=742219
• 关键词: Confocal; Microscope; Upgrade; Development; Physiology

We request funding to upgrade a fluorescence microscope to a confocal microscope. The microscope is in a common microscopy facility whose last confocal stopped functioning over 10 years ago. We are unusual as a Department of Biology in not having a shared confocal microscope and consequently our students and postdocs are extremely limited in the imaging they can currently do. Confocal technology has advanced significantly over the last decade with vastly improved light path efficiency which has increased sensitivity and reduced its footprint and cost. In upgrading our current fluorescent microscope to a confocal we gain access to a state-of-the-art scan head with highly efficient light path and a platform with excellent signal to noise ratio, and we take advantage of many parts of the current system including lenses and cameras. In this upgrade we are also able to keep the same software used on other instruments in the facility, which will enhance training opportunities for diverse users. Our team includes research groups studying a wide range of organisms from fungi, plants, sponges, to fruit fly and vertebrates. Our trainees are undergraduates, graduate students (Masters and Doctoral level) as well as postdoctoral fellows who hold many scholarships and who are well-published. Many are also involved in outreach within and outside of our department. The requested instrument will be housed in a common microscopy facility where training is overseen by a technician with over 5 years of experience on several different confocal platforms.  Graduate students today seek training in advanced techniques, and with rapid advances in molecular biology leading research programs are asking precisely where genes are expressed in animal and plant tissues. But for studying model organisms, the use of confocal has gone beyond characterizing and static preparations, more-and-more to developing and using genetically encoded reporters that elevate our work into quantifying outcomes and live-tracking of events that were inaccessible only years ago. Without contemporary microscopy all those investments and training opportunities are lost, and more importantly, our students' great potential to be inventive with fluorescent reporters is also lost. Not having had access to a confocal microscope for years has been a major loss to all of our groups and we now urgently need this instrument to continue training our students and associates in high-quality microscopy research.

我们要求资金将荧光显微镜升级到共聚焦显微镜。显微镜位于一个普通的显微镜设施中，其最后一次共焦在10年前停止运作。作为生物学系，我们在没有共享的共聚焦显微镜方面非常不寻常，因此我们的学生和博士后在他们目前可以做的成像方面非常有限。在过去的十年中，共聚焦技术已经大大提高，并提高了光路效率，这提高了灵敏度并降低了其足迹和成本。在将当前的荧光显微镜升级到共焦点时，我们可以访问具有高效光路径和具有出色信号比率的平台的最先进的扫描头，我们利用了当前系统的许多部分，包括镜头和摄像机。在此升级中，我们还能够保留在设施中其他工具上使用的相同软件，这将增强潜水员用户的培训机会。我们的团队包括研究各种生物的研究小组，从真菌，植物，海绵到果蝇和脊椎动物。我们的学员是本科生，研究生（硕士和博士学位）以及博士后研究员，他们拥有许多奖学金，并且刊登了良好的奖学金。许多人也参与了我们部门内外的外展活动。所请求的仪器将安置在一个普通的显微镜设施中，该设施在几个不同的共聚焦平台上培训超过5年的经验。今天的研究生正在寻求先进技术的培训，并且随着分子生物学的快速发展，领先的研究计划正询问在动物和植物组织中表达基因的位置。但是，对于研究模型生物，共聚焦的使用范围已经超越了表征和静态制剂的表征，而越来越多地发展和使用一般编码的记者，这些记者将我们的工作提升到量化的结果和实时追踪，而这些事件仅在几年前就无法访问。没有当代显微镜，所有这些投资和培训机会都丢失了，更重要的是，我们学生与荧光记者发明的巨大潜力也丢失了。多年来一直无法进入共聚焦显微镜是我们所有小组的重大损失，现在我们急需该工具继续培训我们的学生和同事进行高质量显微镜研究。