Core--Biomedical Imaging Core

University Of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The Electron Microscopy Morphology Core (EMMC) was established in 1981 in Dr. Leonard Jarett?s electron microscopy research laboratories in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine with support from the DERC. This Core became nationally and internationally known for its diabetes related structural and cell biological work that it produced, which strengthened and in some cases disproved current hypotheses based solely on biochemical findings. The Core received outstanding ratings in subsequent renewals. The success of this Core allowed Dr. Jarett to successfully compete for a Shared Instrumentation Grant, with which the Core was able to make major improvements in the facility and the equipment. The expansions include a new EM (JOEL 1010) with CCD camera system, one standard epifluorescent microscope and two confocal laser scanning microscopes (CLSMs) for unique applications. BioRad 1024MP is a state-of-art customized multi-photon CLSM with Coherent Ti/Sapphire lasers and the other is a standard CLSM (BioRad 1024ES). The Core was remodeled and expanded to provide these expanded services. Furthermore, we have recently interacted with the Morphology Core of the Center for Molecular Studies in Digestive and Liver Disease to provide our users services for histochemistry and immunohistochemistry at the light microscopic level to DERC users. To better reflect our expanded mission, the EMMC is now known as the Biomedical Imaging (BMI) Core Laboratory. The BMI core now provides to DERC members the widest assortment of morphological approaches, at reasonable rates and with professional interpretation. This accomplishment is our primary mission. These services are provided to investigators who require this type of information in their studies but who lack the resources to acquire it or the knowledge to interpret the results. Generally, critical morphological information of this type would be unavailable to investigators who do not have expensive microscopy laboratories, or who may be unwilling to pay the substantially higher fees of a commercial laboratory. A secondary, but equally important function of the BMI Core is to provide training in morphological techniques for investigators and members of their research staffs who want to integrate these studies into their repertoire. Finally, the core staff is committed to the development and the implementation of new techniques and methods that will keep us at the cutting edge of technology.