# Cell Imaging Core

> **NIH NIH P30** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2024 · $71,921

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY: VDDRC Cell Imaging Core
The Vanderbilt Digestive Disease Research Center (VDDRC) Cell Imaging Core, operated by the Cell Imaging
Shared Resource (CISR), ensures that VDDRC-affiliated investigators have full access to state-of-the-art
imaging equipment and expert technical support to conduct sophisticated microscopy and analysis of digestive
disease tissue and samples. By utilizing a large, well-established facility, the VDDRC Cell Imaging Core provides
high levels of quality control, a dedicated, expert staff and a significant economy of scale for services that would
be difficult (if not impossible) for individual investigators to establish and support. This organizational structure
fits well with the centralized approach to prevent needless duplication of scientific resources within federally
funded research centers, enabling focused development of technology that serves VDDRC investigators. The
overall goal of the VDDRC Cell Imaging Core is to provide the full range of modern microscopy and digital
imaging capabilities and techniques to enable and accelerate digestive disease research at Vanderbilt through
three objectives: 1) acquire and maintain state-of-the art optical and EM imaging technology; 2) train, assist, and
encourage VDDRC-affiliated investigators to incorporate optical, EM, and in vivo imaging technologies into
their research; and 3) develop new imaging technologies that will be useful for digestive disease research.
VDDRC support reduces the net cost of imaging services to VDDRC investigators and has helped provide
financial stability essential to sustain historically high levels of service, which has been vital to the successful
acquisition of new instruments and services that support VDDRC researchers. During the current funding period,
investigators representing 63 separate VDDRC-affiliated laboratories have used all aspects of this Core,
leading to 154 peer-reviewed publications. Over the same time period, initiatives taken to obtain equipment
grants, combined with institutional contributions, have provided over $4.1M in new capital equipment for the
benefit of VDDRC investigators. This includes one commercial and two custom-built lightsheet microscopes, a
new confocal microscope, and significant upgrades to both light and electron microscopes. Currently, the
VDDRC Cell Imaging Core manages 18 light and electron microscopes valued in excess of $10M, including a
Nikon Center of Excellence. The Vanderbilt shared facilities system provides an efficient billing system, oversight
and governance for this Core at no extra cost to VDDRC members. The VDDRC Cell Imaging Core will continue
to be a critical component in Vanderbilt’s broad range of digestive disease research resources and will provide
essential services that support the research of VDDRC-affiliated investigators during the next funding cycle.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10887466
- **Project number:** 5P30DK058404-23
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** MATTHEW J TYSKA
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $71,921
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2002-06-15 → 2027-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10887466

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10887466, Cell Imaging Core (5P30DK058404-23). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-11 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10887466. Licensed CC0.

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