City of Hope researchers have begun using powerful, new immunomicroscopy resources — highly advanced microscope technology to study immune cells — thanks to a $100,000 gift from Los Angeles-based philanthropists Suzanne, Ric and Jerry Kayne.
The Immunomicroscopy Facility supports the Department of Cancer Immunotherapeutics & Tumor Immunology (CITI) at City of Hope. Located in the Halper North building, the facility offers specialized sample preparation and imaging equipment. The facility became operational on May 25.
“This facility provides the understanding we need at the tumor level to accurately assess how our immunotherapeutics are working and to help us determine ways to further refine them,” said Andrew Raubitschek, M.D., chair of CITI.
Immunomicroscopy Facility equipment includes complex and rigorously calibrated instrumentation, a Nikon 801-Eclipse fluorescence microscope, a high-resolution, scientific-grade digital camera, specialized filters, image acquisition and analysis software and a computer workstation. These tools allow CITI researchers to capture exceptionally detailed images, automate imaging and efficiently analyze collected pictures. The facility also includes sophisticated equipment for preparing cells and tissues for imaging.
Researchers can use the equipment to see how the immune system responds to therapeutics, step by step, so they can evaluate the potential therapies. That information then returns to the lab and helps scientists refine promising research concepts.
The resources prove beneficial when researchers document T-cells’ response to investigational therapies, for example. Scientists photograph the T-cells in the lab, over time, before and after exposing them to therapeutics. This work, which once took weeks to perform by hand, now can be completed overnight — and with more images.
Researchers can adjust settings to automate the photo shoot. They can then assemble the photos, creating three-dimensional images that can reveal whether therapeutics spurred the immune system to fight cancer.
The data show whether researchers must refine the therapy and shed light on treatment mechanisms, helping scientists design nextgeneration therapies.
The Immunomicroscopy Facility is a result of the Kaynes’ first major grant to City of Hope.
Ultimately, the Immunomicroscopy Facility will be moved to a room within the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center for Cancer Immunotherapeutics and Tumor Immunology, slated for completion in early 2009.