Mass spectrometry metabolomics imaging:
Mass Spec Imaging is an imaging technique that has entered the field of tissue-based research by providing unique advantages for analyzing tissue specimens in unprecedented detail. This exciting technique allows for high-throughput, in situ direct profiling and molecular imaging of metabolites, lipids, peptides, and xenobiotics from biological tissues with minimal sample preparation at near single-cell resolution. The power of these methods has recently been demonstrated in a variety of biological setting from the Gentry and Sun labs through high-impact publications and success grant applications. This exciting new technology will be the flagship instrument that resides at the CASBR and will be available to investigators at the College of Medicine.
The Center for Advanced Spatial Biomolecule Research (CASBR) at the University of Florida provides full service MALDI-MSI analysis, operating strictly on a collaborative research model*. This includes assistance with sample preparation, data collection, and rigorous data analysis to provide the highest quality data and place findings in robust biological context.
Engagement with CASBR requires alignment of scientific goals and will be evaluated based on project merit, feasibility, and available resources. Projects will be accepted only after formal consultation and mutual agreement on collaborative scope with one of the CASBR Directors: Dr. Ramon Sun, Dr. Craig Vander Kooi, or Dr. Matthew Gentry. Use of CASBR resources must include appropriate acknowledgment or authorship, depending on the level of scientific contribution.
For collaborative grant submissions involving CASBR appropriate budget allocation must be made to support the proposed research involving CASBR operations. This includes personnel effort and consumable costs required to execute the proposed work. Typical requests may include up to 10-50% effort for a staff scientist or postdoctoral associate for sample preparation and data collection and 20-30% effort for a bioinformatician for data processing and interpretation, and 5% CoI effort from one of the CASBR directors, in addition to consumable costs necessary to complete the scope of work.
Due to increasing demand and large-scale sample requests, all submissions not supported through joint funding will incur a $250/sample/omics (internal) or $500/sample/omics (external) charge strictly for cost recovery of reagents and machine usage.
For questions or to initiate a collaboration discussion, please contact the CASBR team through the website submission portal below.
*Please note, CASBR is not a fee-for-service facility and does not provide services in exchange for payment alone. Investigators seeking fee-for-service support for MALDI imaging or spatial biology-related services are encouraged to contact dedicated service cores such as those at UT Austin, Johns Hopkins University, or Vanderbilt University, which are structured to provide transactional service arrangements.
Digital multiplexed antibody-based Imaging:
Digital microscopy has revolutionized the knowledge that can be gained from relatively simple brightfield and widefield fluorescence microscopy. Slide scanning microscopes – such as the Akoya PhenoImagerHT is powerful robotic scanning microscopes that can capture high-resolution images of an entire microscope slide. CASBR investigators needing precise quantitation of slide-based analyses may utilize the PhenoImager HT slide Scanner and its associate suite of software for high resolution multiplex biomolecular imaging applications.
