San Diego Skeletal Muscle Research Center

Imaging Core

Director, Velia M. Fowler, Ph.D

Skeletal muscle function is critically dependent on its structure.  The Imaging Core will provide fluorescence light and electron microscopy resources to Center investigators to evaluate skeletal muscle morphology and structural organization, and to localize specific components in muscle fibers and cells.  The Core will also provide customized computational modeling and commercial image analysis software to determine levels and distributions of fluorescent components in muscle cells and tissues, and in macromolecular complexes.  This Core will provide and develop state-of-the art microscopy instrumentation and software optimized for a wide range of size scales, from macro-scale sizes of muscle fibers and supporting cells, to the nano-scale sizes of macromolecular complexes in organelles, cytoskeletal filaments and contractile myofibrils.

Services Provided:

• Technical assistance in preparation of skeletal muscle cells and tissues for fluorescence light microscopy or transmission electron microscopy.
• CIMBio/Fowler Light Microscopy:  Total Internal Reflection Fluorescence (TIRF) Super-Resolution Microscope, Confocal Spinning Disk and Multi-stage Automated Fluorescence Microscopes, Eppendorf Microinjection Microscope. Available for projects other than skeletal muscle research.
• Access to TSRI Microscopy Core:  Zeiss LSM710 and Biorad MRC2100 Confocal Laser Scanning Fluorescence Microscopes, Deltavision Deconvolution Fluorescence Microscope, Laser Capture Microdissection Microscope, Philips Transmission Electron Microscope, Imaris Image Analysis Software. http://www.scripps.edu/california/research/microscopy/
• Image Analysis and Computational Modeling Software: Volocity® Suite 3D Image Analysis Software (Perkin Elmer), Distributed Deconvolution Custom Software (Fowler).

The Imaging Core will interface with the Phenotyping Core and the High-Throughput Cell Analysis Core in the San Diego Skeletal Muscle Research Center (http://muscle.ucsd.edu/SDMRC/home.shtml), funded by an award from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases at the National Institutes of Health (P30-AR061303-01). The cellular and molecular mapping of structures will be combined with functional data to provide mechanistic explanations for the effects of genetic manipulations in animal models, and for altered functions in human muscles from individuals with musculoskeletal conditions or diseases.