# Biomolecular Multimodal Imaging Center: 3-Dimensional Tissue Mapping of the Human Pancreas and Eye

> **NIH NIH U54** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $480,000

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY – Overall. This application proposes the extension of our Tissue Mapping
Center (TMC) for the human eye and pancreas within the Human BioMolecular Atlas Program
(HuBMAP). The mission of our TMC is to build a platform of integrated technologies for imaging and
molecular analysis that enables the construction of comprehensive 3-dimensional molecular atlases
of human eye and pancreas. This TMC leverages the unique resources of the Mass Spectrometry
Research Center at Vanderbilt University, the world-class clinical environment of the Vanderbilt
University Medical Center, the distinguished expertise of Organ Specific Project team leaders in their
respective fields and their vast experience in organ procurement and management, and the advanced
biocomputational infrastructure available to the TMC through the Data Analysis Core laboratories at
Vanderbilt University and the Delft University of Technology, Netherlands to create a capability to
molecularly characterize human tissues in 3-dimensions at a level of understanding unrivaled by
current technologies. The innovative aspects of the proposed TMC are (1) the integration of imaging
mass spectrometry, co-detection by indexing (CODEX), stained microscopy, and autofluorescence
microscopy into 3-dimensional molecular atlases, (2) whole organ imaging of the eye, and (3) multi-
organ atlases from the same donors through a proposed collaboration with other currently funded
TMCs. The application of our platform to organ-specific projects in pancreas and eye will provide a
new paradigm of understanding the normal state of these organs across vast scales, both molecular
(e.g., lipids, metabolites, and proteins) and spatial (e.g., whole organs to single cells). Furthermore, the
involvement of these organs in diabetes, along with organs currently funded by HuBMAP such as
kidney and vasculature, will lay an important foundation for future studies striving to understand the
progression of diabetes. As a HuBMAP participant, the molecular atlases produced by this TMC will
be disseminated to collaborators to generate new hypotheses regarding the function of these
important organ systems, enabling new insight into human health and disease.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11163878
- **Project number:** 3U54EY032442-04S1
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** ALVIN C POWERS
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $480,000
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2020-09-30 → 2025-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11163878

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11163878, Biomolecular Multimodal Imaging Center: 3-Dimensional Tissue Mapping of the Human Pancreas and Eye (3U54EY032442-04S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11163878. Licensed CC0.

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