Advanced Microscopy and Image Informatics

Baylor College Of Medicine, Houston TX

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT: ADVANCED MICROSCOPY AND IMAGE INFORMATICS SHARED RESOURCE Imaging tools are critical to many aspects of the study of cancer biology, ranging from tissue and cellular level imaging with fluorescent microscopy platforms that offer routine-to-nanometer resolution of cellular structures to atomic resolution studies of specific macromolecules with specialized microscopy. The Advanced Microscopy and Image Informatics (AMII) Shared Resource (SR) provides high-quality microscopy and analytics services to the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center (DLDCCC) that spans multiple disciplines. The AMII SR is a resource for state-of-the-art imaging instrumentation, custom image analysis, and thorough one-on-one training by expert staff. Additional complimentary services are offered that include robust consultation for assay design and experimental setup, data acquisition on all available instruments, and image analysis approaches relevant to all acquired data using both custom-developed open source and commercial software platforms. The AMII SR Leaders and staff scientists are also heavily invested in education and training through graduate level teaching, hosting DLDCCC symposia, workshop and seminar organization, and one-on-one training of new (and current) users as needed by experts on staff. To ensure the best collection of data by DLDCCC faculty and/or trainees, the AMII SR also offers the option of utilizing its staff to perform wet-lab experiments from cell/tissue processing and labeling to fully assisted image acquisition across all platforms. Most notably, for fluorescence-based microscopy, the AMII SR offers deconvolution and confocal microscopy and assay development for high throughput imaging-based phenotypic or mechanistic screenings, including a halotomography platform for unlabeled phenotypic analysis of living cells. Further, the AMII SR has acquired numerous specialized small molecule libraries for high content screening, including collections relevant to known cancer-related and FDA-approved drugs, cancer metabolism, kinase and cell signaling inhibitors, nuclear receptor ligands, epigenetic and chromatin modifiers, lipid metabolism, endocrine disrupting chemicals. These small molecules and genomic perturbations are all amenable to single cell-oriented Cell Painting-based screening with a novel, custom-built open-source software platform now in regular use. New for this renewal, cryo electron microscopy (CryoEM), and cellular cryo electron tomography (CryoET) with cryo focused ion beam milling (CryoFIB) services have been added. The addition of CryoEM services permit submicron milling of tissues and cellular specimens with subsequent 3-D imaging at 5 nm resolution. Additionally, CryoEM services permit structural studies of purified molecules and macromolecular assemblies to near atomic resolution. Previously, as a stand-alone College resource, the well-established set of CryoEM/ET services have already been heavily used by dozens of cancer researchers for diverse purposes, from studying the high-resolution structure of nuclear hormone receptors to studying the internal structure of exosomes and circulating tumor cells. Incorporation into AMII will enhance access to these methods and provide opportunities for improved outreach and education.