Microscopic research is becoming increasingly sophisticated and offers growing insights into the building blocks of life. The new Dutch consortium NL-BI received a subsidy this week, 25 million from the National Roadmap and 10 million from NWO, to develop and integrate new techniques and applications for microscopy. This means that revolutionary breakthroughs can also be achieved in Maastricht with the help of microscopy in the prevention or cure of life-threatening diseases. Maastricht University reports this.
Advanced microscopy to understand life and fight diseases: that is the goal of the new NL-BioImaging network that will develop and integrate state-of-the-art microscopy technologies and services. Researchers from all Dutch universities and medical centers, including Maastricht University and the Maastricht University Medical Center, are joining forces to optimize innovation in this area. “The current challenges cannot be overcome by one institution alone,” says coordinator Professor Eric Reits of Amsterdam UMC. “NL-BioImaging (NL-BI) aims to overcome these challenges by jointly bridging technology gaps and providing access to advanced functional imaging in complex systems at all scales.”
Intravital microscopy
Maastricht University, represented by Prof. Marc van Zandvoort as co-chair of one of the 7 Nodes, “Intravital Imaging”, was awarded 1.6 million euros for both an intravital Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Multiphoton Microscope (CARS-MP) as a CARS-MP Endoscope. In addition, personnel capacity can be hired for a period of 4 years for initializing the endoscope in both university and medical research. “With this funding, we can acquire state-of-the-art microscopic systems to perform structural, functional and metabolic imaging deep within tissues, ranging from cells to human tissues and, in the future, in patients using endoscopy. This combination of investments would not have been possible without this grant. wouldn’t have been possible.” The intravital microscope will be integrated into the Microscopy CORE Lab (MCL), being the UM research platform for Advanced Light Microscopy and Electron Microscopy under the scientific and technological support of Kèvin Knoops and Carmen López-Iglesias.
By: National Care Guide