ShEEP Request for a High-Content Screening (HCS) Platform

匹兹堡退伍军人管理局的研究涵盖了广泛的医学领域，旨在 改进对退伍军人中高度流行的一系列疾病的诊断和治疗 与普通民众一样，这是Ord资金和战略规划的优先事项。主要领域 退伍军人管理局的研究涵盖了神经疾病(中风、创伤性脑损伤、神经退行性变 疾病)、肺部疾病、癌症、炎症性疾病、传染病、败血症、伤口愈合、 再生医学。医学研究奖励计划中的一个共同主题是使用细胞、器官 从基于成像的分析中受益的培养系统和小鼠/人体组织。 在这份提案中，我们的目标是获得资金，以购买基于激光的、配备共焦设备的CELLINSIGHT CX7高内容筛选平台，以满足日益增长的更先进、更多功能的需求 匹兹堡退伍军人事务部的科学界提供的成像工具。这些被资助的研究项目 调查人员需要许多能力：同时对多个目标进行固定成像，高分辨率 亚细胞定位、培养细胞、切片组织培养和活细胞成像的鉴别 与稳健、可靠和全面的定量分析相结合。我们识别出了基于激光的共聚焦 配备CELLINSIGHT CX7高含量筛选平台作为单一仪器，提供 使用组织、细胞、有机体和用于定量分析的智能算法的多路传输能力。这 该仪器在匹兹堡退伍军人管理局或我们的附属机构匹兹堡大学都不提供。 这一设备的收购恰逢退伍军人管理局最近开始进行最先进的研究 将存放设备的设施。制定了合理的行政计划，以有效地 管理平台的高效使用并提供维护监督。全球经济一体化的总体影响 考虑到13名常设调查员将经常使用这种设备，购买这种设备是很广泛的 显微镜和其他PI预计将在未来成为用户，成为日益增长的新骨干的一部分 退伍军人事务部资助科学家。通过使退伍军人管理局调查人员能够获得高质量的数据，我们预计 交换科学信息和加强退伍军人管理局之间合作项目的机会 调查人员和匹兹堡大学。此外，其中两名联合调查员是CDA奖获得者。这个 临床科学家的导师阶段对其学术生涯的成功发展至关重要。 这一新的HCS平台将通过提供更高的映像质量和数据速度来提高他们的工作效率 并帮助他们从受指导的调查员身份过渡到独立调查员身份。最后，提供了 退伍军人管理局实验室的这一平台预计将为合作和项目协同创造机会 具有互补性的重点。

Research at the VA Pittsburgh encompasses a broad spectrum of medical fields and is aimed at improving diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of disorders that are highly prevalent in Veterans, as well as in the general population, and that represent a priority for ORD funding and strategic planning. Major areas covered by research at the VA are neurological disorders (stroke, traumatic brain injuries, neurodegenerative disorders), pulmonary diseases, cancer, inflammatory disorders, infectious diseases, sepsis, wound healing, regenerative medicine. A common thread in the Medical Research Merit Programs is the use of cell, organ culture systems and mouse/human tissues that benefit from imaging-based analyses. In this proposal we aim to obtain funds to purchase the laser based, confocal equipped CELLINSIGHT CX7 High Content Screening Platform in order to meet the growing needs for more advanced and versatile imaging tools by the scientific community at the VA Pittsburgh. The funded research programs of these investigators require many capabilities: fixed imaging of a multitude of targets simultaneously, high-resolution discrimination of subcellular localization, cultured cells, slice tissue cultures and live cell imaging in combination with robust, reliable and versatile quantitative analyses. We identified the laser based, confocal equipped CELLINSIGHT CX7 High Content Screening Platform as a single instrument that provides the multiplexing capability using tissues, cells, organoids and intelligent algorithms for quantitative analyses. This instrument is not available either at the VA Pittsburgh or at our affiliate, the University of Pittsburgh. The acquisition of this equipment is timely with the recent opening of the VA’s state-of-the-art research facility where the equipment will be housed. A rational administrative plan has been developed to effectively manage efficient use of the platform and provide oversight for maintenance. The overall impact of the acquisition of this equipment is broad considering that 13 established investigators will be regular users of the microscope and additional PIs are expected to become users in the future as part of a growing cadre of newly VA funded scientists. By enabling VA investigators to obtain high quality data, we anticipate a seamless exchange of scientific information and an enhanced opportunity for collaborative projects between VA investigators and the University of Pittsburgh. Furthermore, two of the co-investigators are CDA awardees. The mentored stage of a clinician scientist is most critical for the successful development of their academic career. This new HCS platform will enhance their productivity by offering greater imaging quality and speed of data acquisition and help them transition from mentored to independent investigator status. Finally, the availability of this platform in the VA laboratories is expected to create opportunities for collaborations and synergize projects that have complementary focus.