Translational Photonic Fingerprinting- STELLARIS FALCON FLIM CONFOCAL
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Edinburgh
Department Name: Centre for Inflammation Research
Abstract
Researchers working at Edinburgh BioQuarter are heavily dependent on the imaging equipment centrally provided by the Confocal Advanced Light Microscopy (CALM) Facility. The existing CLSMs which are now 11 years old, have started to fail and are economically unsustainable. This has negatively impacted on the ongoing imaging work of many investigators.
This platform needs to be urgently replaced and concurrently upgraded with an excitation light source, tuneable over a wide range of wavelengths, and fluorescence lifetime measurement (FLIM) capacity. Both of these capabilities are not available on the Campus, but are now essential for progressing optical molecular imaging platforms. Optical imaging probes are now being developed for clinical use with fibre-optic platforms for molecular characterisation and "fingerprinting" of pathological and physiological processes in clinical experimental studies. This suite of technology is now primed for translational development but a major obstacle is the lack of a suitable CLSM platform to enable screening, assessment and optimisation of imaging parameters prior to in-human translation.
Across both the campus and the wider university and academic and industrial collaborators , FLIM is an emerging and core technology to help discover key pathways in cells and tissues.
The platform is essential to fully exploit interdisciplinary research in Edinburgh supported by large scale programmes which are gaining insight into key processes in inflammation and host-pathogen interactions.
This platform needs to be urgently replaced and concurrently upgraded with an excitation light source, tuneable over a wide range of wavelengths, and fluorescence lifetime measurement (FLIM) capacity. Both of these capabilities are not available on the Campus, but are now essential for progressing optical molecular imaging platforms. Optical imaging probes are now being developed for clinical use with fibre-optic platforms for molecular characterisation and "fingerprinting" of pathological and physiological processes in clinical experimental studies. This suite of technology is now primed for translational development but a major obstacle is the lack of a suitable CLSM platform to enable screening, assessment and optimisation of imaging parameters prior to in-human translation.
Across both the campus and the wider university and academic and industrial collaborators , FLIM is an emerging and core technology to help discover key pathways in cells and tissues.
The platform is essential to fully exploit interdisciplinary research in Edinburgh supported by large scale programmes which are gaining insight into key processes in inflammation and host-pathogen interactions.
Technical Summary
The equipment and staff requested will accelerate discovery research, innovation and translational activities being undertaken by PhD, post-doctoral, senior fellows and investigators at the IRR and Edinburgh BioQuarter and adjoining institutes. We request support for a high-resolution imaging platform to interrogate key pathophysiological processes in human disease and in parallel validate novel, bespoke clinical-grade molecular optical imaging agents , therapeutics and tools for clinical and commercial translation.
1. Multi-dimension confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) for spectral analysis with FLIM capacity, including
a. supercontinuum laser with up to 7 lines (tuneable 400-750 nm), additional 405 nm laser
b. spectral unmixing capacity
c. 2-channel FLIM module
d. full environmental control including pathogen containment for class 2 pathogen imaging for interrogating host-pathogen interactions and evaluation of non-antibiotic microbicidals
1. Multi-dimension confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) for spectral analysis with FLIM capacity, including
a. supercontinuum laser with up to 7 lines (tuneable 400-750 nm), additional 405 nm laser
b. spectral unmixing capacity
c. 2-channel FLIM module
d. full environmental control including pathogen containment for class 2 pathogen imaging for interrogating host-pathogen interactions and evaluation of non-antibiotic microbicidals
