# Appalachian Center for Cellular transport in Obesity Related Disorders (ACCORD) Marshall University Imaging Core

> **NIH NIH P20** · MARSHALL UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $102,758

## Abstract

The Marshall University Imaging Core will support the imaging activities of five junior investigators and
potential pilot investigators as part of the project titled "Appalachian Center for Cellular transport in
Obesity Related Disorders (ACCORD)". The five junior investigators have identified abnormalities in
cellular transport related to disease states which are particularly associated with obesity, including
cancer, hypertension and skeletal malformations. With the long-range goal of minimizing the health
impact of dysregulated transport, or even blocking or reversing processes related to these transport
mechanisms, these researchers seek to develop molecular level descriptions, which will lead to an
understanding of the transport mechanism and the mechanism by which external factors can affect
transport. The Imaging Core will support the long-range goals of these investigators by providing
visualization tools and techniques which will enable them to determine the relative numbers and
distributions of the specific proteins they have determined are associated with transport anomalies in
selected disease states. The principle imaging tool which will be applied for the visualization tasks is a
Multiphoton Fluorescence Microscope, which will enable high resolution optical imaging of tagged
proteins. The multiphoton capability increases the quality of optical imaging in tissue, and will be used in
studies comparing normal and abnormal tissues. This imaging capability will be enhanced, for
researchers developing suitable model systems, via the production of custom tagged proteins suitable for
use in live cell imaging. Live cell imaging will provide the opportunity to observe changes in protein
concentrations and/or distributions within a cell occurring in response to a physiologically relevant cue or
resulting from introduction of a pharmacological agent. Techniques enabled by fluorescent protein
tagging, including FRET (fluorescence resonant energy transfer) and FRAP (fluorescence recovery after
photobleaching) may be employed to test developing hypotheses of protein transport mechanisms and
their anomalies. Additional capabilities, including single molecule fluorescence imaging and atomic force
microscopy will be available for addressing evolving project requirements.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9859413
- **Project number:** 5P20GM121299-03
- **Recipient organization:** MARSHALL UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Michael Louis Norton
- **Activity code:** P20 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $102,758
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** — → —

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9859413

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9859413, Appalachian Center for Cellular transport in Obesity Related Disorders (ACCORD) Marshall University Imaging Core (5P20GM121299-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9859413. Licensed CC0.

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