Engineering Research Equipment: Confocal Microscope

9310873 Hu Laser scanning confocal microscopy, with its ability to discriminate against out-of-focus fluorescence and to yield high in-plane resolution, is a powerful tool for three dimensional imaging. Compared to many other analytical tools, such as electron microscopy, it is relatively non-destructive and non-invasive. Biological systems are inherently three-dimensional. The interior of a specimen, ranging from a single cell of a few micrometer thickness to tissues of hundreds of micrometers in depth, can be discerned with a confocal microscope. This Award will provide a confocal microscope to facilitate the following projects: (1) Development of a bioartificial liver; (2) Studies of invasive behavior and cytoskeleton distribution in metastatic cells; (3) Fabrication of a designer path for cell migration in three dimensional gels; (4) Cytoskeletal reorganization during rabbit corneal epithelial cell adhesion; (5) Development of dynamic nutrient feeding strategy for high density mammalian cell bioreactors; and (6) Determination of the partitioning function in cell division.