Equipment
General Equipment
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Woods operating suites (x 2) - Each HEPA filtered sterile surgical suite contains a ceiling hung Zeiss operating microscope that hangs from flotation devices. One of the microscopes is equipped for recording video of the surgeries. There is an animal vital sign monitoring device that records blood pressure, heart beat and tissue oxygen.
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Bioptigen OCT machine - The Bioptigen OCT machine is located in Wilmer's Woods area and is suited for rat and mouse imaging.
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Two ERG machines - Located in Wilmer's Woods area, these are adapted for measuring rat and mouse ERGs.
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Optomotory machine - Measures visual acuity in mice and rats.
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Two pico-injectors - Harvard microinjectors are available for intraocular injections into rodents.
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Micron III/slit lamp - The Micron III and slit lamp imaging system is located in the Smth Building in room M076. The Micron III can be used for fundus imaging as well as fluorescein angiography or rats and mice.
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AOSLO: The custom-designed AOSLO system allows simultaneous two-channel 3D fluorescent imaging of mouse retina with diffraction limited resolution. The ocular aberration is corrected in real time by a deformable mirror and a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor. The imaging system is operated by a custom-written control software, and a Matlab GUI script output the final images. Two laser line are 488 and 552nm. The lateral resolution is ~ 1 micrometer and the depth resolution is ~ 3 micrometer, respectively. Please contact Ji Yi ([email protected]) for training and use of this machine.
Zebrafish Equipment
A. Large Scale Visual Behavior Assay Systems - Three equipment platforms enabling large-scale genetic and chemical tests for effects on visual and motor functions.
- Multi-Camera Array Microscope (MCAM™, Ramona Optics) - Platform for high-resolution imaging of visual behavior kinematics across hundreds of specimens. First gigapixel microscope capable of capturing cellular-level detail synchronously over hundreds of square centimeters. MCAM combines an array of image sensors and custom-designed lenses with structured illumination and machine learning software to facilitate large-scale behavioral screening.
- VisioBox (Viewpoint) - Automated Optokinetic Response (OKR) and Optomotor Response (OMR) assay platform. VisioBox technology meets the challenges of zebrafish vision science with precise automation, robust data and a steady zebrafish tracking tool. The VisioBox system also allows to perform OMR - Optomotor Response test on adult zebrafish for visual acuity assessment.
- ZebraBox - Automated behavioral analysis assay platform. Enables multiple applications including safety pharmacology, toxicology, ecotoxicology, drug screening and drug development, behavioral genetics, ethology, muscle disorder, rare diseases, seizures, cytotoxicity, light response, and vision tests.
B. High-throughput Phenotypic Screening (HPS) - Two custom-designed robotics platforms enabling large-scale phenotypic drug discovery in living disease models, including fish, flies, worms and stem cell-derived organoids.
- Automated Reporter Quantification in vivo (ARQiv) - Enables plate reader-based quantitative assays of reporter activity as a phenotypic readout. Has been using to screen over 3 million fish for genetic and chemical effectors of neuronal survival (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34184634/), lipid biology (manuscript in preparation), and retinal cell regeneration (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39007397/).
Automated Reporter Quantification in vivo Vertebrate Screening Technology (ARQiVST) - Combines ARQiv with an automated fluorescent light sheet microscope for ideal high-content imaging of 3D disease models. ARQiv-based real time data processing enables an optimized screening cascade where only hits and controls are processed for high-resolution 3D imaging, removing a key bottleneck in achieving high-throughput screening capacities for complex living disease models