MRI: Acquisition of Leica STED Super-resolution and FALCON Microscope System for the Clemson Light Imaging Facility

授予克莱姆森大学获得超分辨率荧光寿命成像系统升级到现有的多光子/光谱共焦成像系统。这些增加的能力将大大提高克莱姆森大学30多名主要研究人员的研究目标。由于这些设备将被放置在克莱姆森光成像设施，一个核心的研究设施，它将是由整个克莱姆森研究界和扩大克莱姆森研究家庭，包括附近的大学和企业，通过合作伙伴关系和推广计划访问。从纳米颗粒到细胞外泌体和细胞器，在基于荧光的成像研究中非常需要提高分辨率，超分辨率能力将提供这种需求。荧光寿命成像系统基于荧光团的荧光的衰减生成图像。这个“寿命”提供了关于荧光团的直接环境的信息，产生的图像不仅包含结构信息，而且还包含关于pH、离子浓度、还原氧物种和分子结合的信息。这些系统将成为下一代伟大研究人员和发明家先进成像技术培训的途径。在克莱姆森大学，目前的科学家队伍由本科生、研究生和博士后/技术人员组成。随着超分辨率提供的分辨率的提高，研究人员可以可视化极其微小的结构，例如细胞外泌体，它在细胞间通讯中发挥作用。对纤毛生物体中肌动蛋白丝形成动力学的研究可以带来对细胞运动性的新见解，而在神经元树突中，肌动蛋白控制突触连接的大小和形状，科学家可以开始揭开大脑学习和记忆的奥秘。荧光寿命成像系统的加入将提供前所未有的成像能力，用于跟踪从生物膜到组织的微环境中细胞结构和代谢的变化。通过荧光寿命成像产生的额外环境数据将使分子建模和实验工作更好地结合起来，从而能够开发出更强大的模拟，帮助生物学家甚至工程师。通过使用这些系统生成的图像和数据将通过各种同行评审的期刊和出版物以及科学会议公开传播。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

An award is made to Clemson University to acquire super-resolution fluorescence lifetime imaging system upgrades to an existing multiphoton/spectral confocal imaging system. These added capabilities will significantly enhance the research objectives of more than 30 principle investigators at Clemson University. As this equipment will be placed in Clemson Light Imaging Facility, a core research facility, it will be accessible by the entire Clemson research community and to the extended Clemson research family, including nearby universities and businesses, through collaborative partnerships and outreach programs. From nanoparticles to cellular exosomes and organelles, there is a great need for increased resolution in fluorescence-based imaging studies, which the super-resolution capacity will provide. The fluorescence lifetime imaging system generates images based upon the decay of a fluorophore's fluorescence. This "lifetime" provides information about the fluorophore's direct environment, producing an image that contains not only structural information, but information about pH, ion concentrations, reduced oxygen species, and molecular binding as well. These systems will serve as avenues of training in advanced imaging techniques for the next generation of great researchers and inventors. At Clemson University, this current cohort of scientists is made of undergraduates, graduate students and postdocs/technicians.With the increased resolution afforded by super-resolution, researchers can visualize extremely small structures such as cellular exosomes, which play a role in cell-cell communication. Studies of actin filament formation dynamics in ciliated organisms can lead to new insights in cell motility, and in neuronal dendrites, where actin controls the size and shape of synaptic connections, scientists can begin to unravel the mysteries of learning and memory in the brain. The addition of the fluorescence lifetime imaging system will provide unprecedented imaging capabilities for tracking changes in cellular structure and metabolism within microenvironments from biofilms to tissues. The additional environmental data generated through fluorescence lifetime imaging will enable greater coupling of molecular modeling and experimental efforts, enabling the development of more robust simulations that can aide biologists and even engineers. Images and data generated through the use of these systems will be publicly disseminated through a variety of peer-reviewed journals and publications as well as at scientific meetings.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.