Zeiss LSM 510 Meta Confocal Microsope

描述（由申请人提供）：本申请申请资金购买蔡司LSM 510 Meta共聚焦显微镜系统。这种新仪器将极大地扩展目前普林斯顿大学荧光显微镜的能力。蔡司LSM 510 Meta系统将允许研究人员用多个荧光探针同时标记细胞成像，包括荧光染料和发射光谱基本重叠的蛋白质。普林斯顿大学现有的显微镜使用滤光片和二向色镜来选择特定的发射波长，因此仅限于清晰地区分同一细胞中的两种不同的荧光蛋白（例如YFP和CFP，或GFP和RFP）。此外，当共定位荧光蛋白在移动粒子上成像时，由于不同的波长在时间上分开的扫描/曝光中被捕获，因此会发生空间偏移。这两个问题导致研究进展的范围和速度受到限制。蔡司LSM 510 Meta探测器系统通过使用衍射光栅将发射光传播到一系列光探测器上，有效地确定样品中每个像素的发射光谱，从而解决了这些问题。使用先前测量的参考光谱，计算图像中每个点的每个荧光团发射光的贡献，从而允许单独成像每个荧光团的空间分布。普林斯顿大学目前正在研究的生物系统的初步结果以及其他地方发表的结果表明，蔡司LSM 510 Meta探测器将允许研究人员同时对多达8种不同的荧光蛋白和染料进行成像。这种新能力将使普林斯顿大学的研究人员能够识别活细胞中的多个细胞区室，并跟踪快速移动的细胞内颗粒的运输。目前在普林斯顿进行的研究将从Meta系统中受益匪浅，包括果蝇卵母细胞和胚胎中mRNA转运和细胞运动的研究，疱疹病毒在神经细胞中的组装和转运，乳腺组织中正常和癌导管的形态发生，秀丽隐杆线虫的形态发生，以及酵母中结合的细胞生物学。对这些生物系统的研究将提供有关重大人类健康问题的宝贵信息，如出生缺陷、病毒感染和癌症。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This application requests funds to purchase a Zeiss LSM 510 Meta confocal microscope system. This new instrument will greatly extend the current capabilities for fluorescent microscopy at Princeton University. The Zeiss LSM 510 Meta system will allow researchers to image cells simultaneously labeled with multiple fluorescent probes, including fluorescent dyes and proteins whose emission spectra substantially overlap. Existing microscopes at Princeton University use optical filters and dichroic mirrors to select specific emitted wavelengths and therefore are limited to cleanly distinguishing only 2 different fluorescent proteins in the same cell (e.g. YFP and CFP, or GFP and RFP). Furthermore, when colocalizing fluorescent proteins are imaged on moving particles, spatial offsets occur because the different wavelengths are captured in temporally separate scans/exposures. Both problems lead to limitations in the scope and rate of research progress. The Zeiss LSM 510 Meta detector system solves these problems by using a diffraction grating to spread the emitted light over an array of light detectors, effectively determining the emission spectrum for every pixel in the specimen. Using previously measured reference spectra, the contribution of emitted light from each fluorophore is computed for every point in the image, allowing the spatial distribution of each fluorophore to be imaged separately. Preliminary results with biological systems currently under study at Princeton University, and published results from elsewhere, demonstrate that the Zeiss LSM 510 Meta detector will allow researchers to simultaneously image as many as eight different fluorescent proteins and dyes. This new capability will allow Princeton researchers to identify multiple cell compartments in living cells and follow the transport of rapidly moving intracellular particles. Research currently undertaken at Princeton which will be benefited greatly by a Meta system include studies of mRNA transport and cell movement in Drosophila oocytes and embryos, herpes virus assembly and transport in neuronal cells, morphogenesis of normal and cancerous ducts in breast tissue, C. elegans morphogenesis, and the cell biology of conjugation in yeast. Study of each of these biological systems will provide valuable information pertaining to significant human health problems such as birth defects, viral infection and cancer.