Gaining access to an even wider range of microscopes and receiving the training to use them just got easier for Duke researchers as a result of the opening of the new Duke Light Microscopy Core Facility.

The facility offers a wide variety of microscopes and image analysis resources for all members of the Duke University and Duke Medicine community. It is based in the Levine Science Research Center (LSRC) and the French Family Science Center. Trained users can access the equipment 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“Microscopy is an essential technique for many research projects,” says Sam Johnson, Ph.D., director of the new facility. “Advanced microscopes are expensive to purchase and require some experience to use optimally. Having a shared facility allows users to access the equipment and to receive training and assistance so they can obtain quickly the images they need.”

The new center will be a significant boon to researchers because not everyone has had easy access to suitable microscopes. “We hope the facility will be valuable to all users,” Johnson explains, “from researchers using microscopy for the first time, to experienced microscopists requiring access to the most advanced instruments.”

Expanding Core Facilities
As part of the overall strategic plan to expand the core facilities available to Duke’s research community, the Duke University Provost’s Office, the School of Medicine and the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center collaborated to open the new facility.

“One of the central themes of the faculty enhancement initiative described in Duke University’s current strategic plan, ‘Making A Difference,’ is to assure our facilities meet the needs of the research aspirations of our faculty,” says John Simon, Ph.D., vice provost for academic affairs for the university. “In addition, a central goal of the School of Medicine’s strategic plan is to develop new core facilities and enhance existing ones.”

Scientists across Arts and Sciences, the Pratt School of Engineering and the School of Medicine identified the need to enhance optical imaging capabilities, he says. “The new Duke Light Microscopy Core Facility, jointly supported by the School of Medicine and the Provost’s office, is designed to meet these research needs.”

The new facility has arisen from an earlier joint resource of the Biology and Pharmacology and Cancer Biology departments. Strategic funding from the School of Medicine and the Provost’s office has enabled the light microscopy facility to purchase several new state-of-the-art microscopes and the facility is now open to all. The cancer center also continues to support the facility.

In surveying the School of Medicine departments, light microscopy emerged as a critical research resource needed by a large number of faculty, says Sally Kornbluth, Ph.D., vice dean for basic sciences at the School of Medicine. “In partnership, the Biology and Pharmacology and Cancer Biology departments, with the help of the cancer center, had already hired an excellent facility director and had begun to build the required infrastructure. The strategic investment of the School of Medicine and the Provost’s office has allowed considerable expansion of the facility.”

A steady increase in the use of the facility by researchers is expected as new equipment and techniques continue to be brought on line, says Kornbluth, adding that in the week and a half after the new facility was announced its website received more than 1,000 hits and the facility had appointments nearly every day for new training sessions. “All users of the facility should find the new website especially helpful in determining which microscopes, techniques, etc. will best fit their needs.”

A Closer Look
The facility offers a range of microscopes with diverse capabilities. Four scanning confocal microscopes, two spinning disks, two widefield fluorescence microscopes, a high performance stereoscope and two image analysis workstations are available. Environmental chambers are installed on a widefield and confocal microscope for temperature controlled live-cell imaging. The different modalities and configurations of the microscopes allow for optimal imaging of a large range of samples.

The fees for using the microscopes vary with the instrument (for example $5 per hour for a stereoscope, $20 per hour for a scanning confocal). The fees are currently capped at $600 per principal investigator per month to ensure that imaging intensive projects are not prohibitively expensive.

Training and assistance are available for all the microscopes. The facility has dedicated staff available for initial instruction for operating the microscopes, advice on sample preparation and ongoing assistance.

“The new Duke Light Microscopy Core Facility greatly expands a much needed resource for researchers,” Johnson says. “We are looking forward to helping users of diverse interests within Duke University and Duke Medicine with the imaging parts of their research.”

For more information about the equipment in the facility, training requests, fees, rules and online booking, visit http://microscopy.duke.edu.