Award details

Automated high throughput high-resolution imaging

Reference	BB/V019481/1
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Corinne Houart
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors	Dr Elena Dreosti, Professor Robert Hindges, Professor Simon Hughes, Dr Robert Knight, Professor Serge Mostowy, Dr Jason Rihel
Institution	King's College London
Department	Developmental Neurobiology
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	371,646
Status	Completed
Type	Research Grant
Start date	05/07/2021
End date	04/07/2022
Duration	12 months

Abstract

Solving essential questions of biology requires the acquisition of large amount of data and excellent analytical approaches. For research addressing biological problems using tissues (eg. organoids) and animals, the pace of progress is mostly hampered by the lack of technologies allowing to acquire and analyse large amount of images at high resolution in a short period of time. Such technology has recently been built, in the form of a computer-controlled robotic device coupled to a confocal microscope. This equipment, called VAST (Vertebrate Automated Screening Technology), can automatically load, orient, image and redistribute hundreds of live embryos into multiwell plates. Imaging is done at subcellular resolution in record time, while keeping track of all the data to the redistributed animals for further studies. The computer not only acquire the data but also analyse them according to parameters defined by the specific research question investigated. The system consists of the VAST BioImager Module, including a Large Particle Sampler and Dispenser Kit. The imaging system is based on a spinning disk confocal microscope. The attached computer workstation is controlling both VAST and confocal and is fully equipped with a tomography and data analysis software. Such equipment is to yet available in the UK, except for Edinburgh. We therefore propose to acquire such equipment in London, for the benefit of a large set pf scientific programmes supported by the BBSRC (see Objectives). Moreover, we plan to open the equipment to a broader scientific community, in and around the capital (eg. Brighton, Cambridge, Bath, Bristol).

Summary

Solving essential questions of biology requires the acquisition of large amount of data and excellent analytical approaches. For research addressing biological problems using tissues and animals, the pace of progress is mostly hampered by the lack of technologies allowing to acquire and analyse large amount of images at high resolution in a short period of time. Such technology has recently been built, in the form of a computer-controlled robotic device coupled to a confocal microscope. This high throughput equipment, called VAST, can automatically load, orient, image and redistribute hundreds of live embryos into multiwell plates. Imaging is done at subcellular resolution in record time, while keeping track of all the data to the redistributed animals for further studies. The computer not only acquire the data but also analyse them according to parameters defined by the specific research question investigated. Such equipment is to yet available in the UK, except for Edinburgh. We therefore propose to acquire such equipment in London, for the benefit of a large set pf scientific programmes supported by the BBSRC. Moreover, we plan to open the equipment to a broader scientific community, in and around the capital (eg. Brighton, Cambridge, Bath, Bristol).

Committee	Not funded via Committee
Research Topics	X – not assigned to a current Research Topic
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	Advanced Life Sciences Research Technology Initiative (ALERT) [2013-2014]
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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