PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The Imaging Facility at the Monell Chemical Senses Center is requesting funds to purchase a Leica STELLARIS 5 confocal microscope to support NIH-funded research. The Monell Center is the world’s only independent, nonprofit institute dedicated to interdisciplinary basic research on the chemical senses of taste, smell, gut sensing, and chemical irritation, as well as the relationship between these senses and nutrition, health, and well- being. Recent reports that taste and smell loss are early symptoms of COVID-19 are an example of the increasing importance of this research. Our NIH-funded scientists will use the STELLARIS 5 confocal system to collect imaging data from the nasal cavity, tongue, taste organoids, and brain to generate mosaic compilations for quantitative analysis, to map fine projections within and between sensory systems, and to perform live functional imaging studies. The Monell Center has a strong history of NIH support, and our faculty have unique expertise that attracts national and international collaborators. In this application, we provide strong justification for this equipment request by describing how it will replace our current 18-year-old Leica SP2 confocal system in our Imaging Facility, which will in turn advance scientific discovery by our NIH-funded scientists. The NIH- funded projects we describe in this application represent a broad array of chemosensory research topics in the olfactory, gustatory, and central nervous systems. The requested Leica STELLARIS 5 confocal system will be housed in our Imaging Facility, part of Monell’s Histology and Cellular Localization Core that provides training and services to all scientists, postdoctoral trainees, technical staff, undergraduates, and visiting scientists at the Monell Center. Established in 2011 with support from an NIH P30 Center Core grant, the Histology and Cellular Localization Core has been in operation for 9 years. Since the Histology Core’s inception, the Monell Center has contributed substantial institutional funds to maintain and operate the Core. In this spirit, the Monell Center has agreed to commit a generous amount of funding toward the upgrade, installation, operation, and maintenance of the instrument requested in this application. Overall, obtaining funding for the Leica STELLARIS 5 confocal microscope will revolutionize microscopy in the Imaging Facility at the Monell Center. In addition to its integral role in completion of the current NIH-funded projects, we will use the instrument to develop novel research approaches, foster new grant applications, and recruit new investigators to the Monell Center. Acquisition of this technology will vastly improve research productivity and data quality, expanding the scope of chemosensory research at Monell.