EMU:Acquisition of High Content Screening microscope for multiparameter fluorescence anlysis

• Grant number: 23/16501-0
• Support Opportunities: Research Infrastructure Program - Small Medium Sized
• Start date: September 01, 2024
• End date: August 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Immunology - Applied Immunology
• Principal Investigator: Edecio Cunha Neto
• Grantee: Edecio Cunha Neto
• Host Institution: Instituto do Coração Professor Euryclides de Jesus Zerbini (INCOR). Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da USP (HCFMUSP). Secretaria da Saúde (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Fernanda Degobbi Tenorio Quirino dos Santos Lopes ; Juliana Pereira ; Roger Chammas

Abstract

In the last decade, advances in the area of automated microscopy have revealed new possibilities for functional assays, allowing the analysis of a broad spectrum of phenotypic changes at the cellular level. High Content Screening (HCS) is an approach to cell biology that combines automated multicolor fluorescence imaging and quantitative data analysis in a high-throughput format suitable for large-scale applications. HCS allows the evaluation of several parameters related to cellular phenotype, such as morphological aspects and those related to the presence/location of proteins of interest, based on the acquisition of images in cells marked with specific fluorescent reagents (antibodies or dyes) for cellular compartments, proteins of interest and nucleic acids. There is a technological, technical and scientific complexity in using HCS appropriately to obtain robust and reproductive results, which requires a multidisciplinary and highly trained environment. Through this proposal, we seek to enable a state-of-the-art HCS platform, within an institution with internationally renowned scientific groups. This project aims to detail the theoretical and practical aspects that justify obtaining the proposed EMU and its impact on science in the State of São Paulo and Brazil. (AU)