Instrument Development for Three-Dimensional Fluorescence Microscopy

这项提案要求为购买和开发几件仪器提供支持，这些仪器将用于显著推进目前由美国国立卫生研究院支持的新型三维(3-D)显微镜领域的研究工作。具体地说，目前正在研究的三维显微系统将通过获得一台氩激光器、一套x-y计算机控制的扫描系统和一台工作站，发展成具有实时重建能力的高分辨率荧光显微系统。470 nm的Ar激光扩展了显微镜系统，使其能够在荧光模式下运行，从而使该系统在生物学和生命科学的许多分支中成为非常有用和强大的工具。X-y扫描系统允许显微镜系统执行样品扫描，而不是光束扫描，从而确保整个视场的分辨率和对比度是相同的。该工作站将把从显微镜系统获得的三维数据的分析速度提高一个数量级，从而使实时三维数据处理和图像呈现成为可能。拟议的仪器开发活动的结果可能导致在实时图像处理、显微镜以及生命科学中的数据存储和获取等领域进行更好的三维信息处理。

This proposal requests support for the purchase and development of several pieces of instrument which will be used to significantly advance a current research effort supported by the National Institutes of Health in the area of novel three-dimensional (3-D) microscopy. Specifically, the 3-D microscopy system currently being investigated will be developed into a high-resolution fluorescence microscopy system with real-time reconstruction capability by acquiring an Argon laser, an x-y computer-controlled scanning system, and a workstation. The Argon laser at 470 nm extends the microscopy system to be able to operate in a fluorescent mode, thereby potentially making the system a very useful and powerful tool in many branches of biology and the life sciences. The x-y scanning system allows the microscopy system to perform specimen-scanning instead of optical beam-scanning, thereby ensuring that the resolution and contrast are identical across the entire field of view. The workstation will improve the speed of the analysis of the 3-D data obtained from the microscopy system by an order of magnitude, thereby making it possible for real-time 3-D data manipulation and image presentation. The results of the proposed instrumentation development activity could lead to better 3-D information processing in areas such as real-time image processing, microscopy, and data storage and acquisition in the life sciences.