Cellular Imaging Core (CIC)

ABSTRACT The Cellular Imaging Core (CIC) plays a pivotal role in the multidisciplinary research pipeline of IDDRC investigators at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Located within the Kirby Neurobiology Center of Boston Children’s Hospital, this shared microscopy facility offers researchers access to high-end and specialized microscopy and digital imaging approaches which they can harness to understand the underlying mechanisms and structural changes associated with neurodevelopmental disorders. The Core offers widefield, confocal (multiphoton, laser-scanning, spinning disk) and super-resolution (stimulated emission depletion, STED) microscopes for high resolution subcellular localization of proteins of interest, for tracking live cells over prolonged periods of time, and for monitoring populations of cells in vivo in an awake, behaving animal. These instruments are accompanied with access to image analysis workstations, and importantly, to an extensive educational program that trains researchers one-on-one on the capabilities and limitations of each instrument and software package used. Core staff can also collaborate closely with IDDRC researchers in core-assisted projects to design, optimize and implement custom designed experiments or analysis approaches. Additionally, the Core offers Instrumentation and Technology Courses to inform the scientific community about what is new for state-of-the-art microscopy, to provide interactive, hands-on workshops on image acquisition, analysis and processing and to address issues in robustness with these imaging methods. Through these interactions with researchers, the Core identifies and obtains new equipment and technology that is relevant to our researchers. Taken together, here the CIC proposes a comprehensive program of collaboration with IDDRC investigators and other IDDRC Cores to lower the barrier for laboratories to incorporate novel and transformative microscopy technologies that elevate and accelerate our understanding of normal and pathological neural development, plasticity and function.