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Principal Investigator: Neal Mathew Alto
Organization: UT SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER
Fiscal Year: 2023
Award: $593,045
Funding agency: NIH Office of the Director
PROJECT SUMMARY
We are requesting funds to purchase a Zeiss LSM 980 Airyscan 2 confocal microscope for the
Microbiology Live Cell Imaging Facility at UTSW Medical Center in Dallas, TX. The system will be
dedicated to live cell imaging of Biosafety Level 2 (BSL2) pathogens, experiments that cannot be done
on other shared university microscopes due to institutional biosafety regulations. Currently, the only
microscope available for live imaging of BSL2 pathogens is over 14 years old and has no capability for
super-resolution imaging, an advance in imaging technology with substantial benefits for visualizing
tiny microorganisms. The Zeiss LSM 980 instrument will represent a significant addition to the research
infrastructure of the university by providing up-to-date imaging technology for a sizable group of
investigators in multiple campus departments who are working to understand human infectious
diseases and the immune response.
To date, the lack of state-of-the-art imaging technology for BSL2 research at UTSW has discouraged
researchers from venturing into lines of investigation that involve visualizing living pathogenic
microorganisms and how they function in infected cells. The long-term objective of this application is to
provide a central, managed, safe imaging facility with modern equipment to support these important
research directions. To meet this objective, we have already implemented a fully compliant BSL2 live
imaging facility managed by the Microbiology department. The requested instrument will meet our need
for a modern live cell imaging system that is suitable for a wide range of applications. The system
includes 4 laser lines, Airyscan 2 to enable super- and confocal-resolution imaging with high sensitivity
and minimal phototoxicity, and Multiplex plus 8x parallelization for high temporal resolution, a full
incubation enclosure for maintaining cells under optimum culture conditions, a motorized scanning
stage for multi-position acquisition, definite focus and a piezo z-stage for fast acquisition of z-stacks.
Access to a BSL2-specific live cell imaging instrument will allow microbiology, infectious disease and
immunology investigators at UTSW to take advantage of live imaging technology to better understand
pathogens that impact human health worldwide (e.g. models of Mycoplasma tuberculosis, attenuated
HIV, models of SARS-Cov2, herpesviruses, poxviruses, EHEC, Salmonella, Shigella, Listeria,
Campylobacter, Leishmania, Trypanosoma). The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has clearly
demonstrated the importance of understanding how these and other microbial agents evolve, survive,
spread and bypass the human immune system.
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