Advanced confocal microscope for clearer cell and cancer imaging
Official title: Confocal Microscope - Leica Stellaris
Funded at Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center · NIH-11339101 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project brings a new high-resolution microscope to researchers who study cancer, development, and cell biology so they can see cells and tissues more clearly and safely.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Torrance, United States) |
| Project start | May 1, 2026 |
| Project end | April 30, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $750,000 |
| NIH project number | 1S10OD040317-01 |
| Project ID | NIH-11339101 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates to benefit are patients who provide tissue or cell samples for research (for example, tumor biopsies or donated specimens) or who participate in studies that require high-resolution cellular imaging.
✕Less likely to help
Patients who do not provide samples, who are not enrolled in studies that use microscopic imaging, or whose conditions do not rely on cellular-level research are unlikely to see direct benefits.
What this research studies
The Lundquist Institute plans to install a modern Leica STELLARIS confocal microscope in its shared core facility to replace an older system. The new instrument adds features like fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM), the ability to image many colors at once (up to 11 channels), and LIGHTNING super-resolution to see finer details with less damage to samples. It will be available to a diverse group of about 12 investigators working on cancer, developmental biology, immunology, and related fields, and will support both live and fixed tissue imaging. By centralizing this capability in the core, many research projects and patient-sample studies can access advanced imaging without each lab needing its own microscope.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this will help researchers detect cellular changes and disease mechanisms faster, which can speed the path toward better diagnostics and treatments for patients.
How similar studies have gone: Advanced confocal and FLIM imaging and super-resolution approaches are already used successfully in many labs and have produced important discoveries in cell biology and cancer research.
Where this research is happening
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Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
Torrance, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Al Alam, Denise — Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
- Study coordinator: Al Alam, Denise
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.