DIGITAL MICROSCOPY/IMAGE ANALYSIS SYSTEM

我们正在申请资金购买一个集成的最先进的数字光学显微图像分析系统，为乔治敦大学细胞生物学系的一些教职员工和他们的研究伙伴提供服务。我们部门的光学显微镜是较旧的设备，无法与计算机或现在可用的现代图像分析软件集成。此应用程序上的所有主要用户只能访问过时的光学显微镜设备。我们使用的物镜不是最好的，因此，在许多情况下，图像质量会受到影响。主要用户中没有一个拥有可以连接到显微镜并与计算机集成的高分辨率数码相机。同样，现有的图像分析系统现在相当有限，无法满足我们主要用户的要求。我们需要一个最先进的图像分析系统，因为我们每个人都对组织切片进行定量分析，用于免疫定位、原位杂交和形态测量。图像分析软件将极大地方便我们的数据分析，并最大限度地提高数据的有效性。新显微镜将配备明视场、暗视场、位相、差分干涉对比度和荧光光学。作为系统的一部分，我们希望购买一台染料升华彩色打印机。我们希望购买的设备也将使我们能够绕过传统的暗室和传统的胶片。我们将在这份赠款申请中证明，购买两台数码相机将具有成本效益，一台专门用于彩色亮场，另一台用于微光荧光的制冷相机。细胞生物系最近购买了一台计算机、一台平板扫描仪、一台35毫米幻灯片扫描仪和一台胶片录像机，以便直接从PowerPoint或CorelDraw等软件程序中制作最高质量的35 mm幻灯片，因此我们已经启动了一个部门共享的“数字暗室”的建立，作为我们形态核心的一部分。我们在这项拨款申请中所要求的带有数码相机和打印机的光学显微图像分析系统将成为形态核心“数字暗室”的组成部分。

We are requesting funds to purchase an integrated state-of-the-art digital light microscopic image analysis system to serve a number of faculty members and their research associates in the Department of Cell Biology at Georgetown University. The light microscopes in our department are older units with no capacity to integrate with the computer or with the modern image analysis software that is now available. All of the Major Users on this application only have access to photomicroscopic equipment that is outdated. The objectives that we are using are not the best ones available, thus, in many instances the image quality suffers. None of the Major Users has a high-resolution digital camera that could be attached to a microscope and integrated with a computer. Similarly, the available image analysis system is now quite limited and unable to meet the requirements of our Major Users. We need a state-of-the-art image analysis system since each of us carries out quantitative analysis on histological slides, both for immunolocalization, in situ hybridization, and for morphometry. The image analysis software will greatly facilitate our data analysis and maximize the validity of the data. The new microscope will be equipped with bright-field, dark-field, phase, differential interference contrast, and fluorescence optics. As part of the system, we hope to purchase a dye sublimation color printer. The equipment that we wish to buy will also enable us to bypass the traditional darkroom and traditional film. We will demonstrate in this grant application that it will be cost effective to purchase two digital cameras, one specifically for color bright-field and the second, a cooled camera, for low light fluorescence. The Department of Cell Biology recently purchased a computer, a flat bed scanner, a 35-mm slide scanner, and a film recorder to produce the highest quality 35-mm slides directly from software programs such as PowerPoint or CorelDraw, and thus we have initiated the establishment of a departmental shared "Digital Darkroom" as part of our Morphology Core. The light microscopic image analysis system with the digital cameras and printer that we are requesting in this grant application will become an integral part of the Morphology Core's "Digital Darkroom".