Descrizione del progetto
Lo sviluppo di una tecnica di immaginografia a ultra-risoluzione per gli studi sulle sinapsi cerebrali
Le tecnologie di immaginografia moderne non sono in grado di presentare la topologia delle proteine in modo preciso in quanto i limiti più bassi per i migliori strumenti a super risoluzione sono compresi tra i 20 e i 30 nm, valori diverse volte superiori alle dimensioni delle singole proteine. Il progetto ULTRARESOLUTION, finanziato dall’UE, intende sviluppare una tecnica di immaginografia a ultra-risoluzione affidabile con una risoluzione davvero molecolare, compresa tra 1 e 5 nm. Il progetto combinerà tecnologie con base ottica a super risoluzione con un’innovativa espansione fisica dei campioni. Questo approccio verrà impiegato allo scopo di decifrare l’organizzazione funzionale di componenti chiave nelle sinapsi cerebrali. L’obiettivo finale è quello di stabilire semplici protocolli volti a estendere l’applicazione dell’ultra-risoluzione a ogni tipo di laboratorio biomedico.
Obiettivo
Neurons contain hundreds of specialized proteins, whose topology reflects activity, plasticity and disease. Present imaging techniques are unable to present this topology accurately, since even the best super-resolution tools are limited to at least 20-30 nm, many times the size of individual proteins (~3-7 nm). To solve this problem, our ground-breaking objective is to develop reliable ultra-resolution imaging, with true molecular resolution of 1-5 nm. We will combine optics-based super-resolution with a recent innovation, pioneered by our team – physical expansion of the samples. Our efforts will be aided by several imaging tools we have generated, from super-resolution modalities to nano-affinity probes, which, thanks to their power and ease-of-use, are already employed by hundreds of research groups. We will apply ultra-resolution to reveal the functional organization of key components of the synapse, in health and disease. We will also develop protocols for brain pathology samples, for future use in medical diagnostics. Finally, we will establish simple protocols that will enable the application of ultra-resolution in every biomedical laboratory. Our multidisciplinary group, composed of a synapse physiologist (Rizzoli), a single-molecule imaging chemist (Sauer), and a physics and bio-engineering specialist (Boyden), is optimally placed to address this challenge. All PIs are also super-resolution specialists, with extensive expertise in stimulated emission depletion (STED), direct stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (dSTORM) and expansion microscopy (ExM), respectively. The vast expertise required by this project implies that none of our groups could pursue it alone, and that no other groups, world-wide, could attempt it. Its successful implementation will provide: 1) imaging technology far beyond the state-of-the-art, which will prove transformative in many branches of biology; 2) solutions to multiple questions on synaptic and brain function.
Campo scientifico
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
ERC-SyG - Synergy grantIstituzione ospitante
37075 Goettingen
Germania