Slide scanning microscope for high-throughput tissue imaging

了解身体内复杂器官的结构和组织，例如大脑，需要能够看到组成该器官的复杂组件，并测量它们的位置以及它们的功能。为了了解疾病的生物学，我们比较了健康人和患病者，以确定患病者的器官发生了什么变化。许多疾病和病症是高度复杂的，这意味着它们可能有多种原因，患者可能会表现出各种各样的症状。理解这种复杂性需要能够在尺度上成像，从而允许在样本内和样本之间进行有意义的比较，通常需要研究数百个单独的样本。资金将允许购买一种新的显微镜，该显微镜能够从大量样本中快速成像。这种显微镜是电动的，完全自动化的，这意味着它可以高速运行样品，产生大量的数据集，而研究人员花费的时间相对较少。显微镜还能够检测多种不同荧光标记物的存在，这些标记物用于对组织进行染色，以突出样品中的关键结构或细胞类型。该显微镜将被安置在布里斯托大学最先进的生物成像设施内，可供400多名研究人员使用。研究人员将使用这种新的显微镜更深入地了解各种疾病，包括免疫功能障碍，关节炎和心血管疾病，以及抑郁症，精神分裂症，自闭症和慢性疼痛等精神健康障碍。

Understanding the structure and organisation of complex organs within the body, for example the brain, requires the ability to see the intricate components that make up that organ and measure where they are located and how they function. To understand the biology of disease we compare healthy people and those with the disease, to determine what has changed in the organs of those who are ill. Many diseases and disorders are highly complex, meaning they can have multiple causes and patients can display a wide variety of symptoms. Understanding this complexity requires the ability to image at scales that allow for meaningful comparisons within and across samples, typically needing many 100s of individual samples to be studied. Funding will allow the acquisition of a new microscope that has the capability to rapidly image from a very large number of samples. This microscope is motorised and fully automated, meaning it can run through the samples at high speed, producing large datasets with relatively few man hours of researcher time spent. The microscope also has the ability to detect the presence of multiple different fluorescent markers, which are used to stain the tissue to highlight key structures or cell types within the sample. The microscope will be housed within a state-of-the-art bioimaging facility at the University of Bristol, which allows access for over 400 researchers. Researchers will use this new microscope to gain deeper insight into a wide range of diseases, including immune dysfunction, arthritis and cardiovascular disease, as well as mental health disorders spanning depression, schizophrenia, autism and chronic pain.