PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
The Imaging Facility at the Monell Chemical Senses Center is requesting funds to purchase a Leica STELLARIS
5 confocal microscope to support NIH-funded research. The Monell Center is the world’s only independent,
nonprofit institute dedicated to interdisciplinary basic research on the chemical senses of taste, smell, gut
sensing, and chemical irritation, as well as the relationship between these senses and nutrition, health, and well-
being. Recent reports that taste and smell loss are early symptoms of COVID-19 are an example of the
increasing importance of this research. Our NIH-funded scientists will use the STELLARIS 5 confocal system to
collect imaging data from the nasal cavity, tongue, taste organoids, and brain to generate mosaic compilations
for quantitative analysis, to map fine projections within and between sensory systems, and to perform live
functional imaging studies. The Monell Center has a strong history of NIH support, and our faculty have unique
expertise that attracts national and international collaborators. In this application, we provide strong justification
for this equipment request by describing how it will replace our current 18-year-old Leica SP2 confocal system
in our Imaging Facility, which will in turn advance scientific discovery by our NIH-funded scientists. The NIH-
funded projects we describe in this application represent a broad array of chemosensory research topics in the
olfactory, gustatory, and central nervous systems. The requested Leica STELLARIS 5 confocal system will be
housed in our Imaging Facility, part of Monell’s Histology and Cellular Localization Core that provides training
and services to all scientists, postdoctoral trainees, technical staff, undergraduates, and visiting scientists at the
Monell Center. Established in 2011 with support from an NIH P30 Center Core grant, the Histology and Cellular
Localization Core has been in operation for 9 years. Since the Histology Core’s inception, the Monell Center has
contributed substantial institutional funds to maintain and operate the Core. In this spirit, the Monell Center has
agreed to commit a generous amount of funding toward the upgrade, installation, operation, and maintenance
of the instrument requested in this application. Overall, obtaining funding for the Leica STELLARIS 5 confocal
microscope will revolutionize microscopy in the Imaging Facility at the Monell Center. In addition to its integral
role in completion of the current NIH-funded projects, we will use the instrument to develop novel research
approaches, foster new grant applications, and recruit new investigators to the Monell Center. Acquisition of this
technology will vastly improve research productivity and data quality, expanding the scope of chemosensory
research at Monell.