History
Since NCMIR's inception in 1988, its strong commitment to multidisciplinary research has given rise to breakthroughs in a variety of fields, including biological specimen preparation, instrumentation, and software development. NCMIR has been a driving force in the application of high-performance computing and grid technologies to advance biomedical science, including the first demonstration of remote control of an electron microscope over the Internet in 1992.
As the speed and power of networks continued to increase, this initial demonstration of remote microscopy grew into the Telescience Project, an alpha project of the National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (NPACI). Telescience provides through one web interface a suite of tools for end-to-end electron tomography including remote microscopy, bioinformatics, distributed computing, and collaborative visualization. Through this technology, researchers from around the world can collaboratively access rare, high-energy electron microscopes and powerful information technology resources.
NCMIR initially focused on the use of intermediate voltage electron microscopes (IVEMs) operating in the 300,000 eV to 400,000 eV range. Since then, this P41 resource has expanded the suite of available instrumentation to include in-house high-resolution light microscopies, such as multi-photon, and ultra high-voltage electron microscopes (UHVEMs) in Japan and Korea, accessed via the Internet.
The following timeline presents highlights of NCMIR's first 15 years.
Timeline
May 1988
NCMIR, initially named the San Diego Microscopy and Imaging Center,
is established as an NIH/NCRR P41 research resource. (See photo,
top, right.)
August 1990
Synu (“Synthetic Universes”), one of the
first open-source programs for 3D surface rendering,
is made available to the scientific community.
August 1990
Installation of the JEM-4000EX IVEM begins. (See photo, middle,
right.)
July 1992
Telemicroscopy debuts at Siggraph 1992, controlling the JEM-4000EX
IVEM at NCMIR from Chicago, Illinois.
1993
NCMIR originates the use of eosin for fluorescence photooxidation
as a staining technique for correlated light and electron microscopic
imaging. PubMed
1994
NCMIR pioneers the use of serial tomography combining serial
section reconstruction and electron tomography to reconstruct large
structures in the nervous system. PubMed
August 1997
NCMIR scientists use electron tomography to define a new paradigm for mitochondrial structure. PubMed
June 1999
Trans-Pacific Telemicroscopy controls the UHVEM at Osaka University
from UCSD. (See photo, bottom, right.)
2000
NCMIR demonstrates the use of fluorescent phalloidin as a tool
for the study of actin networks at high resolution. PubMed
September 2001
NCMIR is established as a node in the Biomedical Informatics Research Network (BIRN).
November 2001
Telescience wins award for "Best Network Enabled Application"
at the SC2001 (Supercomputing) Bandwidth Challenge.
January 2002
NCMIR publishes a new view of astrocyte structure, showing that astrocytes are bigger than originally thought and occupy non-overlapping domains. PubMed
March 2002
The Cell Centered Database (CCDB) premiers. The CCDB, one of the first
Internet databases containing shared data repositories for cellular
data, was launched to make 3D microscopic imaging data available
to the scientific community.
April 2002
FlaSH/ReASh system is introduced for correlated live imaging and
electron microscopy of genetically engineered fluorescent probes. PubMed
October 2002
Installation of the JEM-3200EF Omega Filter Equipped IVEM begins.
May 2003
Memorandum of Understanding is signed between UCSD/NCMIR and the
Korea Basic Sciences Institute to promote international collaboration
surrounding the 1.25 MeV UHV-TEM.
July 2003
Memorandum of Understanding among UCSD/NCMIR, Osaka University,
and KDDI Research Laboratories is signed to promote the development
of applications and technologies for high-performance streaming
video over next generation networks.
November 2003
Telescience wins award for "Best Application" at the SC2003 Bandwidth
Challenge.
