High-throughout fluorescent imaging system: From cell biology to population ecology

我们正在申请紧急更换高端尼康Ti图像采集系统并进行必要的升级。两个高生产力的研究项目和至少7个拥有多名学生的实验室依赖于拟议的设备，由于A)现有设备的限制和B)现有设备由于老化导致的机械故障，无法完成基本的高通量多维分析。因此，我们建议从尼康购买一个高度可定制的高内容成像平台，旨在满足圭尔夫大学整合生物学系的两个实验室和生物科学学院的7个实验室的直接需求。这些实验室的研究涵盖了几个层次的组织（分子、细胞、胚胎和幼虫）和方法（种群生态学、细胞生物学、分子生物学和发育生物学），迫切需要所有实验室进行高通量的获取。具体来说，申请人正在进行的研究项目以及与工业界和其他实验室新建立的合作需要紧急实施高内容采集系统，这是现有显微镜无法处理的任务。自从去年提交申请失败以来，由于现有系统的技术故障一再出现，并且无法实现正在进行的项目所需的新型高通量协议，因此获得新的显微镜系统变得更加紧迫。圭尔夫大学的核心成像设备不能适应自动化工作流程的拟议操作程序，因为他们的显微镜系统通常由高度专业化的共聚焦显微镜组成，没有高吞吐量。此外，现有的系统只能处理几个实验室的需求，直到达到容量。如果没有拟议的基础设施，将失去重要的动力和机会，Heyland和Fryxell实验室正在进行的工作将停滞不前，直到新的基础设施可用。

We are applying for the urgent replacement of a high-end Nikon Ti image acquisition system with necessary upgrades. Two highly productive research programs and at least 7 laboratories with multiple students depend on the proposed equipment and have been unable to complete essential high-throughput multi-dimensional assays due to A) limitations with the existing equipment and B) mechanical failures of the existing equipment due to aging. We therefore propose to purchase a highly customizable high content imaging platform from Nikon, designed to serve the immediate needs of two laboratories in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of Guelph and 7 laboratories in the College of Biological Sciences. Research in these laboratories covers several levels of organization (molecules, cells, embryos and larvae) and approaches (population ecology, cell biology, molecular biology and developmental biology) and there is an urgent need for all laboratories for high throughput acquisitions. Specifically, the applicant’s ongoing research programs and newly established collaborations with industry and other laboratories require the urgent implementation of high content acquisition systems, a task that cannot be handled by the existing microscope. Since the previous unsuccessful submission of this application last year, the acquisition of the new microscope system has become even more urgent due to repeated technical failures of the existing system and the inability to implement novel high-throughput protocols required for ongoing projects. The core imaging facility at the University of Guelph is not setup to accommodate proposed operating procedures for automated workflows as their microscopy systems generally consist of highly specialized confocal microscopes without high throughput capacity. Furthermore the existing systems can only handle the needs of a few labs until capacity is reached. Without the proposed infrastructure important momentum and opportunity will be lost and ongoing work in the Heyland and Fryxell labs will be stalled until new infrastructure is available.