Facility Details

The Multiphoton Intravital & Tissue Imaging (MITI) Core Facility, is part of the Translational Imaging and Behavioral Assessment (TIBA) Core within the Cognitive Neuroscience of Development & Aging (CoNDA) Center and larger Fred & Pamela Buffett Cancer Center Preclinical Imaging Center. The MITI Core is equipped with experienced research professionals and state-of-the-art intravital imaging equipment to acquire advanced descriptive and quantitative data for various in-vivo/preclinical imaging studies.

The MITI Core is equipped with an Olympus FVMPE-RS advanced multiphoton microscope, a multichannel, multiphoton excitation system specifically tailored for intravital and deep tissue imaging. It delivers high speed (up to millisecond imaging) for rapid in vivo imaging of physiological responses, near infrared excitation for deep tissue imaging. The Olympus FVMP-RS system is additionally equipped with 458 and 588 nm stimulation laser lines for photobleaching, light stimulation and/or photoactivation of various fluorescent or caged constructs.

The Olympus FVMPE-RS Multiphoton Microscope uses a Spectra-Physics InSight X3 dual-line, tunable multiphoton laser for ultrafast, multichannel imaging. The main output from the InSight laser is a tunable line ranging from 680 to 1300 nm with a second multiphoton excitation line at 1045 nm. This extended excitation range supports both traditional fluorophores and fluorescent proteins (blue to long range red), as well as second and third harmonic imaging.

The available Neurotar Mobile Home Cage (Funding: P20 GM130447) allows researchers to integrate real-time imaging with behavioral/locomotion tracking.

Training and access to the imaging system, support in the design of experimental procedures, acquisition of image data, and analysis of acquired images are offered through the MITI Core. Services are available to investigators within the University of Nebraska network, as well as academic or commercial/industrial institutions in the region at hourly usage rates.

The Cognitive Neuroscience of Development and Aging (CoNDA) Center is a NIH Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, with a focus on neuroscience research across the lifespan. The center aims to advance translational and human neuroscience through support of research projects and development of infrastructure. The Fred and Pamela Buffett Cancer Center Preclinical Imaging Center comprised of the MITI core, Ultrasound and Photoacoustics core, and IVIS core, is recognized by the NIH as a National Cancer Institute (NIH) cancer center shared research resource. The MITI is also supported by the Nebraska Center for Nanomedicine CoBRE at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska.