Olympus FV1200 Near Infrared Confocal Microscope

Dartmouth College, Hanover NH

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

? DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Nine NIH-funded investigators associated with the Norris Cotton Cancer Center (NCCC) and the Departments of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, Surgery, Physiology and Neurobiology, Pharmacology and Toxicology, Genetics, Radiology, and Medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College request funds to purchase a confocal microscope system from Olympus America. The FluoView FV1200 Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope integrates a confocal microscope equipped with five lasers (405 nm, 473 nm, 559 nm, 635 nm, 748 nm), three alkali photomultiplier tubes, a GaAsP Hamamatsu detector optimized for 700-900 nm at highest available quantum efficiency, and Olympus acquisition/analysis software. This state-of-the-art workstation for live cell and tissue imaging will replace a 12-year-old Zeiss LSM 510 that is old and unreliable, is no longer serviced/supported by the manufacturer, has narrower wavelength range and lower sensitivity than the proposed instrument, and no longer meets the community's needs. The FV1200's new and unique high sensitivity near-infrared imaging capabilities will modernize the NCCC Optical Cellular Imaging Shared Resource, utilized regularly by multiple schools and departments comprising over 70 laboratories and ~300 users performing NIH sponsored work. Our NIH-funded investigators conduct innovative studies on the pathogenesis of a wide range of diseases, including cancer and immunological and neurological diseases. Achieving the goals of the applicants' NIH-sponsored projects requires examination of tissues and cells at near-infrared wavelengths using high-sensitivity confocal fluorescence. The state-of-the-art FluoView FV1200 confocal microscope workstation to be purchased under this proposal is a workhorse well matched to these needs. It offers good price and performance; uses proven technology backed by solid technical support, and in the requested configuration, will afford microscopy capabilities now absent at Dartmouth. It will be the sole instrument of its kind serving the Dartmouth life-science community in the pursuit of numerous NIH-funded projects. The new confocal microscope system will be centrally located and maintained in the NCCC Optical Cellular Imaging Shared Resource and made available to NCCC members as well as all medical researchers at Dartmouth. It will be incorporated into the NCCC's well-established Cancer Center Core Operations electronic service request system (used by the entire Dartmouth community) to facilitate recovery of funds for supplies and maintenance.