Equipment: MRI: Track 1 Acquisition of an LSM 900 with Airy Scan 2

This project establishes a state-of-the-art confocal microscope imaging system that includes several new features including an environmental control chamber for imaging various living biological samples over time. It also provides gentle, fast, and super-resolution imaging to extend research capacity for many different types of biological samples in new and exciting directions to allow visualization of aspects of them that were not previously possible. This imaging platform will sustain and expand innovative investigations, which will enhance funding competitiveness for users by promoting high-quality research output. The microscopy system will grow the imaging capacity in the Department of Biology at West Virginia University to support collaborative student training opportunities using cutting edge technology across West Virginia through collaboration with researchers at other higher-education institutions in the state, including Bluefield State University and Shepherd University. Researchers will utilize this system to address previously untenable research questions in many systems and fields including neuroscience, ophthalmology, and cell biology. This imaging system will be managed by a highly competent, engaged, and energetic faculty team with extensive experience in confocal microscopy. Acquiring this system will accelerate research and student training. The job-market competitiveness of junior trainee users and future scientists will be strengthened, and the system will enhance scientific literacy and expand research opportunities. The award will enhance the research capacity and publications from West Virginia researchers and foster scientific collaborations for years to come. Visualizing fluorescently labeled molecules, organelles, and tissues is a significant basis of biological research, and confocal microscopy is an essential tool for these analyses. Confocal imaging tools are widely used at various scale research institutions, and super-resolution confocal microscopes lead current imaging technologies by offering an unprecedented ability to examine cellular and subcellular changes that occur in systems under various experimental contexts. Overall, acquiring this confocal microscope imaging system largely resolves several trade-offs that exist historically with this technology and have previously limited cellular and molecular biology research, including speed vs. sensitivity, resolution vs. spatial scale, in vivo vs. in vitro super-resolution capability, and laser intensity vs. sample integrity. When integrated with environmental control, this enables researchers who use various model systems to explore the causative mechanisms underlying critical biological processes from cellular to systems levels. Access to 4-dimensional gentle super-resolution capabilities across time and space will advance the research scope of users. Specifically, this system will allow characterization of cellular dynamics related to metabolism of molecules in single cells, analysis of neural circuit formation and molecular composition of cells in the brain, and interrogation of protein transport in diverse model systems. This project aligns with the NSF’s biotechnology priority area. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.