# Leica STELLARIS Confocal to Power Women's Health Research

> **NIH NIH S10** · MAGEE-WOMEN'S RES INST AND FOUNDATION · 2021 · $496,935

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
This shared instrumentation grant is for funds to purchase a Leica Stellaris confocal microscope to be housed
in the Magee-Womens Research Institute. The MWRI confocal core serves the 70 basic- and clinical-research
faculty who are full or affiliate members of MWRI. Currently, the MWRI core is comprised of a 10-year-old
Nikon A1r with PMT detectors and resonant scanning and a nearly 20-year-old Leica SP2 confocal. The former
has been maintained continuously under a service contract and was upgraded to steady-state lasers in 2015.
The SP2, on the other hand, is at the end of its viable lifetime: it cannot be upgraded; it no longer has a
functioning DAPI laser; vendor service contracts have been discontinued; and repair parts are difficult to attain.
This application requests funds to replace the obsolete SP2 system with Leica's newest confocal, Stellaris,
which was released this spring. Over the past ten years, innovations in confocal microscopy have improved
sensitivity and resolution, decreased bleaching, and expanded fluorescent range. The new instrumentation will
allow NIH-funded researchers to use state-of-the art imaging approaches to address a myriad of issues related
to women's and reproductive health, including ovarian cancer etiology, meiotic crossover regulation, pelvic
floor disorders, and placenta dysfunction, among others. Critically, the new system will allow users to achieve
sub-diffraction imaging that is becoming a standard in the field and will enhance the live-imaging capabilities of
the MWRI core. The recent hiring of faculty with confocal-intensive projects, together with expanded need of
our user base, have made it difficult to support the confocal needs of the MWRI constituency with our current,
outdated machine.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10176763
- **Project number:** 1S10OD030404-01
- **Recipient organization:** MAGEE-WOMEN'S RES INST AND FOUNDATION
- **Principal Investigator:** JUDITH YANOWITZ
- **Activity code:** S10 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $496,935
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-09-01 → 2022-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10176763

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10176763, Leica STELLARIS Confocal to Power Women's Health Research (1S10OD030404-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10176763. Licensed CC0.

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