RESEARCH - Biological microscopy supports both basic and translational research, providing the ability to image, in multiple dimensions, morphologic changes, labeled biomarkers, and proteins in cells and tissues. The funded research performed on our instrumentation supports and advances all of the University of Arizona’s Strategic health initiatives (Grand Challenges 2.3A, 2.3B, 2.3C) and ensures that PIs will have competitive grant applications.
Our mission is to facilitate basic and translational research at the University of Arizona. We provide our users with expert consultation, training, and ongoing technical support as they perform their research using the core’s full range of basic to sophisticated optical microscopy instruments so that they can obtain reliable and reproducible scientific data.
Impact Metrics (Fiscal year 2023):
- Core usage - 124 total users, from 67 labs, representing 22 departments and 7 Colleges
- Grants supported - 41 federal and 14 non-federal
- Instrumentation added - Using funds from a successful Equipment Enhancement Fund (TRIF) application (Helena Morrison, PhD, Nursing) along with addition support from the Core Facilities department we added a Zeiss Axio Observer 7 with Apotome III Microscope in late June of 2023.
- Awards - Co-manager Patty Jansma, MS was awarded the Microscopy Society of America 2023 Hildegard H. Crowley Award for Outstanding Technologist in the Biological Sciences.
3 year Metrics* (Fiscal years 2021, 2022, 2023):
- Equipment Enhancement Fund (EEF) awards - 3
- Core Facility Pilot Projects (CFPP) supported - 13
- Publications - 106 publications (includes a few preprints) used the core instrumentation and/or acknowledged the core. This includes 27 PhD dissertations, 6 master's theses, and 6 honors theses.
* Fiscal year data combines the iLab optical microscopy data from the former Imaging Core - LSN with that of the former Imaging Core – Marley. The cores were re-aligned and named Imaging Cores – Optical in February 2022.