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Here in example of research description from our resent customer at Yale University:
Cellular Imaging and Analysis of Polarized Membrane Traffic
A major goal of my laboratory is to develop and apply new and state-of-the-art
multidimensional optical methods to better understand the basic mechanisms of
polarized membrane trafficking and cell morphogenesis.
One important challenge facing modern biology is to understand how individual
biochemical reactions are integrated in space and time. Increasingly, new vital
probes and optical methods has begun to provide unique mechanistic insight into
how molecules, vesicles, organelles and whole cells are (re)organized in
response to internal and external cues. This is especially relevant for the
dynamic process of membrane traffic and the cytoskeleton in cell polarity - key
areas of our interest. Insight into how cells both establish and lose polarity
are also essential for understanding disease processes such as metastasis. In
particular we are applying the optical methods of Total Internal Reflections
Fluorescence Microscopy (TIRFM) and 4D (3D + time) multicolor spinning-disk
confocal imaging to directly address, at the single-vesicle level, where and how
polarized membrane traffic is delivered.
TIRFM imaging (also called evanescent wave microscopy) can selectively
illuminate an extremely thin optical section (< 50 nm) of the lower surface of
the cell (reviewed in Toomre and Manstein, 2001[PDF]; for Java Tutorials see
http://www.olympusmicro.com/primer/techniques/fluorescence/tirf/tirfhome.html.)
It offers unsurpassed signal-to-noise and permits single-vesicle visualization
and quantification of exocytic docking and fusion. Specifically, using advance
optical methods our lab is exploring the following related topics: 1)
organization and coordination of exocytosis and cytoskeleton in polarized cells
and 2) coupling of exo- and endocytosis and molecular mechanisms that regulate
this process. For instance, TIRFM imaging has lead to a number of novel
observations including imaging of constitutive exocytosis (and the surprising
presence of exocytic ‘hot-spots’ for fusion on the cell surface) and nanometer
targeting of microtubule plus ends to the cell surface and focal adhesions.
To facilitate these and other studies multicolor TIRFM instruments, a 4D
spinning disk confocal and electrophysiology instrumentation has been recently
implemented here as part of “The CINEMA Lab” ("Cinema Imaging Using New
Microscopy Approaches"), with support from Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
(LICR), various grants, Yale and the private sector. We are also collaborating
with other groups at Yale (Dr. Jim Duncan’s group, Dept. of Biomedical
Engineering) and overseas (Elena Diaz, Spain) to develop novel software to
detect, analyze and make computational cellular models of these processes.