Q3DM/Beckman Coulter IC 100 Automated Microscope System

描述（由申请人提供）：申请资助由Q3 DM/Beckman Coulter制造的自动化高通量（HT）显微镜。该仪器（称为IC-100，以前称为Eidaq 100）自动扫描并获取多孔培养皿中细胞的数千个明场或荧光图像。先进的软件分析图像，并计算单个细胞内荧光或亮场物体的强度和定位的许多测量值。因此，有可能评估一系列的亚细胞变化，如基因或蛋白质表达，蛋白质或细胞器运输，和信号转导，在活细胞或固定细胞上响应许多试剂或培养条件。所需的唯一附件是机械臂和培养箱，以允许将多孔细胞培养板自动加载到显微镜上。这将通过实现无人值守操作来扩展仪器的容量。用户群庞大而多样，代表了伯纳姆研究所、索尔克研究所和加州大学圣地亚哥分校，项目支持来自NAI、NCI、NHLBI、NIDDK、NIAID、NIMH和NIGMS的赠款。本提案的B部分重点介绍了来自主要用户的七个项目，这些项目代表了心脏病、糖尿病、癌症和传染病方面的疾病导向研究。HT显微镜将作为细胞分析共用设施的一部分进行管理，该共用设施还包括高速细胞分选仪（Beckman FACSVantage SE）和分析型细胞仪。该设施和HT显微镜是一项更大计划的关键部分，该计划旨在筛选小分子，蛋白质和基因库，用于癌症，传染病和再生医学。该机构对这一倡议的承诺是实质性的，并反映在购买先进的机器人和化学图书馆和雇用技术人员和教师（从该研究所的首席财务官和癌症中心主任表示支持该倡议的信件在附录中提供）。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Funding is requested for an automated, high throughput (HT) microscope manufactured by Q3DM/Beckman Coulter. The instrument (known as IC-100, previously Eidaq 100) automatically scans and acquires thousands of brightfield or fluorescent images of cells in multiwell dishes. Sophisticated software analyzes the images and calculates many measurements of the intensity and localization of fluorescent or brighfield objects within individual cells. Thus, it is possible to evaluate a range of subcellular changes, such as gene or protein expression, protein or organelle trafficking, and signal transduction, in response to many reagents or culture conditions on living or fixed cells. The sole accessory requested is a robotic arm and incubator to permit the automatic loading of multiwell cell culture plates onto the microscope. This will expand the capacity of the instrument by enabling unattended operation. The user base is large and diverse, representing the Burnham Institute, Salk Institute and University of California, San Diego and the projects support grants from NAI, NCI, NHLBI, NIDDK, NIAID, NIMH and NIGMS. Seven projects from major users are highlighted in section B of this proposal and represent disease-oriented research in cardiology, diabetes, cancer, and infectious disease. The HT microscope will be managed as part of a shared facility for cell analysis that also includes a high speed cell sorter (Beckman FACSVantage SE) and analytical cytometers. This facility and HT microscopy is a key part of a larger initiative to screen libraries of small molecules, proteins and genes for applications in cancer, infectious disease and regenerative medicine. The Institutional commitment to this initiative is substantial and is reflected in the purchase of advanced robotics and chemical libraries and the hiring of technical staff and faculty (letters from the Institute's CFO and Cancer Center Director expressing support for the initiative are supplied in the appendix).