# Nikon CSU W1 SoRa for the Center for Advanced Microscopy and Nikon Imaging Center at Northwestern University

> **NIH NIH S10** · NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY · 2023 · $599,822

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract:
This application is to purchase a Nikon CSU-W1 SoRa for rapid super resolution imaging to
facilitate live cell imaging. The Center for Advanced Microscopy (CAM) has been supporting super
resolution microscopy for almost 10 years both with STORM and SIM microscopy methods. The
overwhelming majority of CAM’s super resolution imaging has been performed in fixed samples.
This is because STORM is not readily compatible for live imaging, and our SIM system uses
traditional diffraction grating to generate the illumination pattern, which is too slow for many
dynamic cellular processes. Additionally, SIM imaging depends on generating illumination patters
on the sample, which degrade as one images deeper into tissue. The Nikon SoRa can produce
super resolution images, similar in resolution to those generated by the SIM system at a much
faster capture rate of up to 30 frames per second. Another advancement is that the SoRa system
does not need diffraction grating (unlike the SIM) to produce super resolution images allowing for
deeper imaging into samples. The 7 NIH funded investigators listed within this proposal have
experimental needs that hinge on the ability to visualize structures using super resolution in tissue
or live samples. These investigators are unable to perform these experiments with our current
instrumentation as CAM’s SIM system is not capable of taking images at the speeds and depths
required by these investigators. Their research has a broad range of impact and address basic
science research as well as disease research on cancer, inflammation, vascular, neurological
disorders and autoimmune diseases. Additionally, while our SIM system is still suitable to fixed
sample imaging, and still operational, the instrument is end of life and parts are no longer being
manufactured should it fail. The acquisition of the SoRa would enhance the research to 11 NIH
funded grants and offer additional imaging capabilities to investigators at Northwestern’s Feinberg
School of Medicine as well as the Chicago scientific community.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10632696
- **Project number:** 1S10OD032270-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Constadina Arvanitis
- **Activity code:** S10 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $599,822
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2023-04-01 → 2024-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10632696

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10632696, Nikon CSU W1 SoRa for the Center for Advanced Microscopy and Nikon Imaging Center at Northwestern University (1S10OD032270-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10632696. Licensed CC0.

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