Equipment to Study Visual Cortical Development and Plasticity

* 这项研究工具和仪器补助金要求资金用于设备，以使我们如何处理和成像用于我们研究视觉皮层发育和可塑性的Western印迹现代化。蛋白质印迹是一种用于定量一块组织中特定蛋白质的量的技术。在神经科学中，蛋白质印迹是用于研究调节神经可塑性的蛋白质的技术之一。在我的研究项目中，我们使用蛋白质印迹法来研究在发育过程中或在各种形式的异常视觉体验之后，调节大脑可塑性的神经蛋白是如何变化的。蛋白质印迹法的过程包括在凝胶中分离蛋白质，将蛋白质从凝胶转移到膜上（也称为印迹），用抗体探测印迹以标记特定的蛋白质条带，并扫描印迹以定量条带中的蛋白质量。执行这些步骤需要所请求的设备。需要自动化蛋白质印迹处理器（Freedom Rocker Blotbot 240）来执行标记印迹上的蛋白质条带的所有抗体孵育和洗涤步骤。然后需要Western印迹扫描仪（Azure Saffire Biomolecular Imager）通过可视化标记条带并定量每条条带中的蛋白质量来对印迹进行成像。它们共同提高了产量并使Western印迹处理现代化。**这种新设备将使我们能够研究动物模型视觉皮层的可塑性和人类皮层的可塑性。该设备将通过1）引入高通量方法和2）提高蛋白质定量的准确性和可靠性，使我们可以研究的蛋白质数量增加一倍以上。此外，这些设备对于培训学生至关重要，以便他们获得使用现代最先进工具研究大脑发育和可塑性的经验和专业知识。我们的研究在加拿大是独一无二的，因为我的实验室是唯一拥有死后人类视觉皮层样本库的地方。此外，我们的人类视觉皮层组织寿命库涵盖了从出生到衰老的年龄范围，使其成为世界其他地方没有的稀有和宝贵的资源。由所要求的设备支持的研究将提供关于大脑如何随着经验而发展和变化的新信息。视觉是人类的主要感觉系统，具有30多个皮层区域，其处理视觉信息以实现广泛的功能，从视敏度到面部感知到阅读。这些结果直接影响了我们对视觉在大脑中如何处理的理解。此外，我们的研究结果可能会影响与健康相关的研究，这些研究涉及异常发育和神经退行性变期间发生的神经和感知变化。这些发现可以使加拿大视觉科学研究人员致力于开发新的视觉疾病治疗方法。

***This Research Tools and Instruments grant is requesting funds for equipment to modernize how we process and image the Western blots that are used in our studies of visual cortex development and plasticity. Western blotting is a technique used to quantify the amount of specific proteins in a piece of tissue. In neuroscience, Western blotting is one of the techniques used to study the proteins that regulate neuroplasticity. In my research program, we use Western blotting to study how neural proteins that regulate plasticity in the brain change during development or after various forms of abnormal visual experience.******The process of Western blotting includes separating the proteins in a gel, transferring the proteins from the gel to a membrane (also called the blot), probing the blot with antibodies to label specific protein bands, and scanning the blot to quantify the amount of protein in the bands. The requested equipment is needed to perform those steps. The automated Western blot processor (Freedom Rocker Blotbot 240) is needed to perform all of the antibody incubations and wash steps that label the protein bands on a blot. Then the Western blot scanner (Azure Saffire Biomolecular Imager) is needed to image the blot by visualizing the labelled bands and quantifying the amount of protein in each band. Together they increase throughput and modernize the processing of Western blots.******This new equipment will enable our studies about plasticity in the visual cortex of animal models and plasticity in the human cortex. The equipment will more than double the number of proteins we can study by 1) introducing high-throughput methods and 2) increasing the accuracy and reliability of the protein quantification. Furthermore, these pieces of equipment are essential for training students so that they acquire experience and expertise with modern state-of-the-art tools for studying brain development and plasticity.******Our studies are unique in Canada because my laboratory is the only site with a library of postmortem human visual cortex samples. Moreover, our lifespan library of human visual cortex tissue covers a range of ages from birth to aging, making it a rare and valuable resource not found elsewhere in the world.******The research supported by the requested equipment will provide new information about how the brain develops and changes with experience. Vision is the dominant sensory system in humans with more than 30 cortical areas that process visual information for a wide range of functions, from visual acuity to face perception to reading. The results have a direct impact on our understanding of how vision is processed in the brain. Furthermore, our findings may impact health-related studies about the neural and perceptual changes that occur during abnormal development and neurodegeneration. The findings can benefit Canadian vision science researchers working to develop new treatments for vision diseases.*****