Research Excellence
The National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research (NCMIR) at the University of California, San Diego develops state-of-the-art 3D imaging and analysis technologies to help biomedical researchers understand biological structure and function relationships in cells and tissues in the dimensional range between 1nm and 100um. more
 October 2010 — In their paper, "Direct Restriction of Virus Release and Incorporation of the Interferon-Induced Protein BST-2 into HIV-1 Particles" published in the March 2010 issue of PloS Pathogens, NMCIR researchers, in collaboration with Kathleen Fitzpatrick and John Guatelli of the UCSD School of Medicine show that the cellular protein BST-2 is involved in retaining newly formed HIV-1 virions on the surface of cells. NCMIR scientists used immunolabeling in combination with electron tomography to demonstrate the intimate association of BST2 with the virus particles in the plasma membrane. This suggests that the incorporation of BST-2 into virions may prevent them from escaping the infected cell and be a key aspect of the protein's broadly restrictive activity against enveloped viruses. Read article. |
 December 2010 — NCMIR researchers used electron tomography to examine mitochondria, the cell’s principal energy producers, in the peripheral nervous system (PNS) in a study that points to differential energy usage along neurons. The morphological diversity of mitochondria in neurons appears to be the rule rather than the exception as these cells are highly polar, being composed of dendrites, somas, synapses, and axons — compartments with differing functions, molecules, and energetic needs. Read article. |
NCMIR in the News
NCMIR Researchers Help Create a Powerful New Probe for Light and Electron Microscopy
April 2011 — In the April 5th issue of PLoS Biology, NCMIR scientists, in a collaboration with a team led by Nobel laureate Roger Tsien, introduced a new fluorescent probe for correlated light and electron microscopy that overcomes many of the limitations previously encountered by researchers seeking to image cells and tissues at high resolution. Read article.
UC San Diego's National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research (NCMIR) Instrumental in Huntington's Disease Breakthrough
March 2011 — Imagine being able to prevent certain death of nerve cells in the brain and visualizing the feat with the latest in electron microscope technology. That's just what a team of biomedical researchers did, including UC San Diego's own National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research (NCMIR), giving hope to Huntington's disease patients. Huntington’s disease is an inherited and incurable neurodegenerative disorder affecting 35,000 people annually and is caused by mutation of the gene encoding the huntingtin protein. Read article.
New Research Reveals Unexpected Biological Pathway In Glaucoma
January 2011 — In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team of researchers from the Kennedy Krieger Institute and four collaborating institutions, including the National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research, identified a new and unexpected biological pathway that appears to contribute to the development of glaucoma and its resulting vision loss. Read article.
Serial Block-Face Scanning Electron Microscopy at the 2010 Microscopy and Microanalysis Meeting
August 2010 — At the 2010 Microscopy and Microanalysis meeting in Portland, Oregon, NCMIR scientists presented their work "Enhancing Serial Block-Face Scanning Electron Microscopy to Enable High Resolution 3-D Nanohistology of Cells and Tissues," a collaboration with researchers Roger Tsien's laboratory at UCSD. Serial block face scanning electron microscopy is a new method that allows for the automated image acquisition of relatively large volumes of tissue at near nanometer-scale resolution using scanning electron microscopy. At the meeting, they described a newly developed heavy metal staining protocol that dramatically improves the contrast and resolution obtainable by this method. The work was a recipient of a Professional/Technical Staff Award presented by the Microscopy Society of America. A detailed protocol for preparing tissue can be obtained here: http://ncmir.ucsd.edu/sbfsem-protocol.pdf
NCMIR Scientists Provide the First Glimpse of Synthetic Life
May 20, 2010 — Pioneering geneticist J. Craig Venter and colleagues announced the creation of the first synthetic life form, Mycoplasma mycoides JCVI-syn1.0 at a press conference in Washington, D.C. and NCMIR researchers were entrusted with obtaining the first images of this new organism. Images obtained by Thomas Deerinck and Mark Ellisman of NCMIR were used in the July 2, 2010 Science article outlining this work and one was featured on the journal cover. Read article.
Sestrin Protects Fruit Flies From Age-Related Pathologies; NCMIR image on cover of Science
March 2010 — NCMIR scientists were members of a team of researchers that studied the intricate link of TOR with sestrins, a family of highly conserved proteins whose expression is induced by stress. As the team reported in the March 5th issue of the journal Science, they found that sestrin proteins prevent excessive TOR activation and delay the onset of age-related pathologies through a negative-feedback mechanism. Produced at NCMIR, the accompanying cover image of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, (magnification 80x, eyes pseudo-colored), appears prominently on the cover. Read article.
NCMIR's Electron Tomography Resource Reveals Novel Mitochondrial Anchoring Scaffolds and Cristae Structured for High-rate Metabolism
January 2010 — Electron microscope tomography was used at the NCMIR to aid Prof. George Spirou (West Virginia University) in his investigation of the mitochondria-associated adherens complex (MAC) in the auditory brain stem and resulted in a publication in the J. Neuroscience. By applying high-resolution electron tomography (ET) to the study of a central terminal, the calyx of Held, researchers at the NCMIR revealed an elaborate cytoskeletal superstructure that connects a subset of mitochondria to the presynaptic membrane near active zones. Read article.
