Mitochondrial Function and In Vivo Imaging Core

The Mitochondrial Function and In Vivo Imaging (MF-II) Core The overall goal of the CardioPulmonary Vascular Biology (CPVB) COBRE program is to facilitate high impact vascular biology research. The CPVB COBRE has successfully supported numerous innovative studies for a better understanding of the pathogenesis and the associated mechanisms of cardiopulmonary diseases. Over these years, there has been increasing interest and requests from the CPVB COBRE investigators and other scientists to perform mitochondrial function assessments and high-resolution in vivo imaging in preclinical studies. The Mitochondrial Function and In Vivo Imaging (MF-II) Core has evolved from the Respiratory Core that was established in 2021 as the 2nd technical core of the CPVB COBRE based on user needs. The mission of the MF-II Core is to develop a centralized system for mitochondrial function assessments and high-resolution in vivo imaging, with the goals to enhance productivity, promote interdisciplinary and inter-institutional collaborations, and increase research impact of the CPVB COBRE investigators and other investigators in the state of Rhode Island. To date, the Respiratory/MF-II Core have served 30 unique users with 4,030 services. There is a ~2.2-fold increase in yearly technical core services from the Phase I to the Phase II. In Phase III, the overall objective of the MF-II Core is to facilitate the scientific objectives and technical repertoire of the CPVB COBRE Pilot Project Investigators and other Rhode Island and IDeA investigators by providing centralized cutting-edge technologies and essential services. The specific aims of the MF-II Core are to: i) offer effective, reproducible, and economical services in high- resolution in vivo imaging and mitochondria function assessments to pilot project investigators and the scientific community; ii) acquire, establish, and disseminate technologies and instrument capabilities to provide state of the art research tools for pilot project investigators and the scientific community; iii) facilitate interdisciplinary and inter-institutional collaborations by providing technical services to enhance research productivity, and to foster scientific networks by closely working with IDeA programs in Rhode Island and other states; iv) establish processes and procedures that lead to sustainability of the MF-II Core. The MF-II Core will continue to provide critical support to investigators in Phase III and beyond to augment and strengthen biomedical research excellence in the state of Rhode Island and the other IDeA states.