Optical Imaging Core
The Optical Imaging Core (OIC) provides detailed visualization of cell structure in biological processes through high-resolution imaging. Observation of development, pathogenesis, and genetic mutations at a cellular level allows investigators the opportunity to review how key components are organized, how they interact, and how they change in size and number. The fluorescent, confocal and multiphoton microscopes in the OIC are specifically designed for fluorescent imaging needed to gather this data. A variety of software programs are available for subsequent image analysis.
Flow cytometry is also available at the OIC. This provides cell characterization in large populations of dissociated cells ranging from bacteria to plant and mammalian cells. Flow cytometry is greatly enhanced by fluorescent labeling techniques, providing specific knowledge of gene, protein, and organelle changes within individual cells of a population. Once characterized, cells can be sorted for subsequent procedures (eg. incorporation of stem cells into animals or culturing of isolated bacteria) or analyses, such as proteomics and genomics. Cytometric analysis software is also available.
The OIC has a fluorescent stereoscope for imaging of plants and small animals that require a large depth of focus and wider field of view than can be provided in a standard compound light microscope.
The Optical Imaging Core is staffed by an experienced biologist and microscopist, Ann Norton.
Recent News
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U-Idaho, University of Maryland Study Finds Vaginal Microbes Vary Over Time Among Healthy WomenMOSCOW, Idaho – The delicate balance of microbes in the vagina can change drastically over short periods of time in some women, while remaining the same in others, according to a new joint study by the University of Idaho and the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Institute for Genome Sciences. The scientists believe these microbes affect a woman’s susceptibility to infection and other ...
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NSF Awards $700,000 for Cross-Institutional, Interdisciplinary Math/Biology EducationWritten by Donna Emert MOSCOW, Idaho and PULLMAN, Wash. – The National Science Foundation has awarded a $700,000 grant to 10 faculty researchers and educators at the University of Idaho and Washington State University. The funding will support interdisciplinary undergraduate training in mathematics and biology at both institutions. As health and life sciences become increasingly quantitative,...
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Idaho Researchers Aim to Unlock Plasmid Transfer SecretsWritten by Amanda Cairo MOSCOW, Idaho – In an effort to take the resistance out of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, University of Idaho researchers are getting down to the genetic level to figure out how multi-drug resistance plasmids increase their resistance. Thanks to a five-year, $1.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, Eva Top, professor of biology, and Zaid Abdo, assistant...
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Study Provides New Insights About Women's Reproductive HealthMOSCOW, Idaho – It's an uncomfortable topic, and not considered polite dinner conversation, but Larry Forney's research on the human vagina and the ecology of the vaginal microbial ecosystem has big implications for women. Forney, professor of biological sciences and director of the Initiative for Bioinformatics and Evolutionary Studies (IBEST) at the University of Idaho, is focusing his research...
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Your Body is a (Bacterial) WonderlandScientists soon will be investigating one of the most unexplored – yet most common – ecosystems on the planet; the human body. The research project was awarded $10.5 million is one of several investigating the ecosystems of bacteria and other microorganisms that are vital to human health.