Cell and Molecular Imaging
Director
John J. Lemasters, MD, PhD
Professor, Departments of Pharmaceutical & Biomedical Sciences and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Co-Director
Anna-Liisa Nieminen, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences
Contact Information Venkat Ramshesh
Phone: 843-876-2363
E-Mail: ramshes@musc.edu
Location: Drug Discovery Building 507 Description The Cell and Molecular Imaging Shared Resource provides technical services and training in confocal microscopy to MUSC investigators. The Cell and Molecular Imaging Shared Resource is also a part of the Center for Cell Death, Injury and Regeneration. Services include data acquisition/capture at the cellular and/or tissue levels, data analysis and software packages. The latter services are provided on a separate computer station. In addition to providing state of the art microscopes, the Imaging Shared Resource strives to identify specific user needs for future purchases. This may include non-destructive, low energy imaging of live and fixed cells, FRET (fluorescence resonance energy transfer) and multiphoton imaging applications. During the initial training session users will be instructed regarding the safety precautions of lasers, proper handling of microscope and high cost objectives, and general overview of the image acquisition software. Shared Resource personnel will assist users in image acquisition and will determine when individual users are sufficiently trained to enable the transition to an independent user. Once a user has become experienced with the instrumentation, he/she will be allowed to use the facility independently, including nights and weekends. Services - Services provided by the facility:
- Live cell imaging of parameter-sensitive fluorophores to monitor ions, electrical potentials, oxygen and nitrogen radical generation, pyridine nucleotide reduction, mitochondrial and plasmalemmal membrane permeability, cell viability (apoptosis and necrosis), fluorescent protein labeling and other parameters
- Intravital microscopy to monitor microcirculation, leukocyte margination, mitochondrial polarization and permeability, radical generation, gene expression and other factors in living animals and tissue;
- High resolution imaging of tissue sections for immunocytochemistry and green fluorescent protein distribution;
- Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) to characterize and quantify interactions between specific molecules.
- Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP)
- Ancillary equipment includes a digital darkroom facility for digitizing images, analyzing and labeling these images, and printing the processed images as photographic quality prints and slides for use in publications, reports and oral presentations; tissue culture hoods and incubators for specimen preparation; and fluorescence and absorbance plate readers for parallel measurements in cultured cells grown on multi-well plates.
- Enhanced image acquisition and analysis software includes Zeiss Physiology software, Adobe photoshop, Olympus software, NIH ImageJ, BioVision IP Lab and Leica software.
Equipment The Cell and molecular Imaging Shared Resource Facility supports five confocal laser scanning microscopes.
Microscope sign-ups and usage fee: | 
86 Jonathan Lucas Street 
