A fluorescent microscopy suite for visualization of synthetic organelles and cells.

该NSERC RTI申请申请资金购买尼康Eclipse Ti2-E成像系统，用于合成生物学项目，重点是真核微生物合成细胞器的设计，组装和交付。为了实现这一目标，我们将尝试将自由生活的微生物/细胞转变为居住在真核细胞内的细胞内共生体。这些工程生物体将用于生物技术和生物医学应用。为了构建我们的微生物/细胞，我们将利用最近建立的突破性技术（由首席申请人共同发明），这些技术允许从合成片段创建设计基因组，然后在酵母中组装整个基因组，并将这些基因组安装在目标生物体中。我们的设计微生物/细胞将被设计成具有特定功能，可以通过最先进的尼康Eclipse Ti2-E成像系统进行分析。该成像系统将加速西部大学一大批研究人员的研究项目，并为新创建的合成生物学教育项目提供动手HQP培训的机会。所要求的基础设施将促进HQP为尖端合成生物学项目招聘人员，为未来的成功奠定基础。

This NSERC RTI application is requesting funds to purchase a Nikon Eclipse Ti2-E Imaging System to be used for synthetic biology projects that focus on the design, assembly and delivery of synthetic organelles to eukaryotic microorganisms. To achieve such goals, we will attempt to turn free-living microbes/cells into intracellular symbionts residing inside eukaryotic cells. These engineered organisms would be used in biotechnological and biomedical applications. To build our microbes/cells, we will take advantage of recently established breakthrough technologies (co-invented by the lead applicant) that allows the creation of designer genomes from synthetic fragments, followed by assembly of whole genomes in yeast, and installation of these genomes in the destination organisms. Our designer microbes/cells will be engineered with specific functions that can be analyzed by the state-of-the-art Nikon Eclipse Ti2-E Imaging System. This imaging system will accelerate research projects of a large group of investigators at Western University, as well as providing opportunities for hands-on HQP training in newly created Synthetic Biology education programs. The requested infrastructure will facilitate HQP recruitment for cutting-edge synthetic biology projects, positioning them for future success.