Scientists across campus will be getting a closer look at cells — and how molecules within them function — thanks to new, upgraded microscopes in the Biochemistry Optical Core (BOC), a fee-for-service campus facility. BOC received a Research Core Revitalization Award from the Office of the Vice Chancellor of Research (OVCR) for the state-of-the-art spinning disk confocal and fluorescence microscopes late last year.
BOC provides researchers across campus with access and training on light microscopy techniques. The imaging core has been used by more than 300 scientists in 90 labs spanning 30 departments across campus, including Biochemistry, Soil Science, Genetics, Psychiatry, and Biomolecular Chemistry. Over 80% of the research carried out in BOC uses confocal microscopy to produce high-resolution, three-dimensional images of cells and cellular components.
“There’s a lot of demand for high resolution cellular imaging,” says Ci Ji Lim, a professor in the Department of Biochemistry. Lim chairs the faculty and staff committee overseeing the core. “Having a world-class, state-of-the-art optical core is vital for making connections from our high resolution, precise measurements in a test tube to a molecule’s structure and function within a cell. This includes studying protein trafficking dynamics, where a molecule ends up, and how it is distributed in the cell. The technology we use in BOC allows us to peer into the bustling molecular interactions inside a model organism or a living cell.”
The new confocal microscope — a Nikon CSU W1 SoRa System — images biological samples more quickly than the center’s other confocal microscope(s), increasing BOC’s capacity to support users. A sample that previously took hours to image can now be done in minutes. The new confocal microscope will also allow researchers to study cellular processes that happen quickly and are difficult to capture at lower imaging speeds. (By exposing samples to the microscope’s laser for shorter periods of time, samples aren’t damaged by light as much during imaging.)
With the OVCR award, BOC has also upgraded their fluorescence microscope (a TIRF microscope), which is used to take images of very thin layers of fluorescently labeled molecules — like putting molecular light bulbs on a molecule of interest. Kurt Weiss, BOC’s manager, says that the two upgraded microscopes will give researchers flexibility and options to find an imaging technique that is right for their research. “Spinning disc is really becoming the workhorse in BOC,” says Weiss. “It’s fast, it can take images of thick or thin samples, it can capture dynamics. TIRF can give you really crisp images with low background noise and can provide high-resolution images. Which option, or options, are right for an experiment will really depend on the question at hand and understanding the benefits and limitations of each approach. Now, we can support more research with our expanded array of tools.”
Written by Renata Solan. Photos by Paul Escalante.