Michael Overholtzer, Mary Baylies, and Morgan Huse
The Elyra 7 Lattice Structured Illumination Microscope from Zeiss will be shared by the Baylies, Huse and Overholtzer laboratories, and will be available to additional users as well. This system performs rapid imaging at super-resolution, which will allow us to examine biological processes occurring within live cells and whole organisms with unprecedented detail. With the Elyra 7 we will gain deeper insights into how T cells recognize and kill their target cells, how muscle cells develop and undergo degeneration, and how processes such as cell death and the turnover of intracellular organelles are regulated.
The Lumicks C-Trap G2 is a microscope equipped with “optical tweezers”—powerful lasers that can capture and pull on microscopic beads that in turn can be attached to single molecules of DNA, RNA, or protein. This instrument allows investigators to watch in real time as they manipulate and measure the behaviors of individual molecular machines. In the past, such single-molecule biophysical studies could only be executed by labs who have committed engineering infrastructure and expertise to build and operate complicated home-made rigs. However, the BRIA- and HHMI-supported acquisition of the Lumicks instrument and its housing in the Molecular Cytology Core Facility make these revolutionary and cutting-edge methods available throughout the MSK research community.