Idaho INBRE Program- Equipment Supplement

PROJECT SUMMARY This Idaho INBRE Program Administrative Supplement will fund equipment that enhances the microscopic imaging infrastructure in the Imaging and Data Acquisition Core (IDAC) facility at the University of Idaho (UI). This equipment will increase the technical capacity, accessibility, and impact of this IDeA-built core in the Institute for Modeling Collaboration and Innovation (IMCI). The IMCI is a multidisciplinary, collaborative research program housed at the UI and supported by a COBRE award. Its microscopy capabilities were initiated by INBRE and are part of the larger INBRE Data Science Core. The IDAC provides confocal microscopy, flow cytometry, and fluorescence-activated cell sorting to users at UI, INBRE partner institutions, and other nearby institutions. In FY22, the IDAC supported the research of 19 UI faculty and 42 trainees, from 5 UI Colleges and 9 Departments. Importantly, 12 NIH-funded or NIH grant- seeking researchers at the UI critically rely on the equipment and technology offered through the IDAC for their research programs. INBRE, through awards to faculty PIs (i.e. Developmental Research Project and Pilot Awards) and support of summer INBRE fellows, directly supports user fees for IDAC equipment. The requested equipment purchase will upgrade and enhance the previous and ongoing NIH IDeA investments in Idaho infrastructure, equipment, and faculty/staff related to confocal, widefield, and live microscopic imaging and image analysis. We propose to purchase a super-resolution structured illumination microscopy (Deep SIM) add-on to the current Crest X-Light V3 confocal microscope and an additional, independent epifluorescence/widefield microscope system, to be housed, maintained, and operated in the IDAC. Neither of these technologies/imaging platforms are currently available in the IDAC, and super-resolution microscopy is currently not available on the UI campus. Our current microscopy options are in high demand, including a > 10-year-old spinning disk confocal. With the additional proposed equipment purchases, IDAC users will be able to access three distinct microscope technologies (confocal, Deep SIM, widefield). Finally, this purchase will provide the first user access to super-resolution microscopy on the UI campus. Collectively, this INBRE administrative supplement will add important equipment to enhance the capabilities for biomedical researchers statewide.