Leica TCS SP2 AOBS UV Confocal System

描述(由申请人提供)：由美国国立卫生研究院资助的我们艺术与科学学院(SAS)和工程学院的生物医学研究进展需要随时获得最先进的共焦激光扫描显微镜。宾夕法尼亚大学目前资助的许多化学、物理、生物学和生物工程项目将从该仪器中受益。这些研究包括对聚合体和相关聚合物“蠕虫”的体内研究(生物工程)；将多个基于卟啉的荧光团整合到这种囊泡中，并将分子信标定位在细胞内(化学)；通过紫外线照射荧光团和小分子来描绘斑马鱼的命运(生物学)；以及研究软材料、神经元之间的相互作用和光动力疗法(物理学)。组装的用户组在光学成像技术，特别是共聚焦激光扫描显微镜(CLSM)方面拥有相当多的专业知识。常规获取CLSM对于验证活细胞和动物中的聚合组件、蛋白质和药物的定位至关重要。激光共聚焦显微镜提供了数百纳米分辨率的复杂三维结构的图像，并允许用光来询问分子，无论是在活的系统中还是在软材料中。商用共聚焦显微镜的最新进展使这些仪器越来越多地进入化学和生物物理学领域。目前化学系内缺乏共聚焦显微镜，以及宾夕法尼亚大学物理学家可获得的通用、最先进的激光共聚焦显微镜设施的短缺，对许多NIH资助项目的重要研究产生了负面影响。由于迫切需要获得这些新技术和一些共同的科学目标，来自四个不同部门的研究人员为这项提议聚集在一起。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Advances in biomedical research funded by the NIH in our School of Arts and Sciences (SAS) and Engineering School require ready access to a state-of-the-art confocal laser scanning microscope. Numerous currently supported projects within Chemistry, Physics, Biology, and Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania would benefit from this instrument. These include in vivo studies of polymersomes and related polymeric "worms" (Bioengineering); incorporating multiple porphyrin-based fluorophores into such vesicles, and localizing molecular beacons within cells (Chemistry); fate mapping zebrafish development through ultraviolet uncaging of fluorophores and small molecules (Biology); and investigating soft materials, neuronal interactions, and photodynamic therapy (Physics). The assembled user group possesses considerable expertise in optical imaging techniques, and, in particular, confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). Routine access to CLSM is crucial for validating the localization of polymeric assemblies, proteins, and drugs within living cells and animals. CLSM provides hundreds-of-nanometer resolution images of complex 3-dimensional structures, and allows the interrogation of molecules with light, either within living systems or soft materials. Recent advances in commercially available confocal microscopes place these instruments increasingly in the domain of Chemistry and Biophysics. The current lack of a confocal microscope within the Chemistry Department, and the shortage of general-access, state-of- the-art CLSM facilities available to physical scientists at Penn negatively impacts studies important to many NIH-supported programs. An urgent need for access to these new technologies and a few shared scientific goals have brought together investigators from four different departments for this proposal.