One-of-a-kind microscope a coup for Otago

Bulletin Issue 21, October 2009

A custom-made microscope installed in the Department of Physiology this month will bring Otago researchers to the forefront of neuroscience research world-wide – helping them answer questions about fertility and Alzheimer’s Disease.

The Olympus single molecule detection microscope system has been configured specifically for the work of Dr Istvan Abraham and colleagues.

Olympus New Zealand Regional Manager of Microscopy and Imaging Alan Jackson says there are fewer than 10 such Olympus hybrid microscopes world-wide, and in its final configuration the Otago microscope is the first of its kind in the world.

It will allow researchers to follow single molecules and examine the electrophysiological responses of these same cells simultaneously.

Dr Abraham says it is extremely exciting. While looking at a single molecule is not unique in the neuroscience field, the ability to look at different kinds of single molecules in neurons while also measuring the neuron’s electrical activity is.

Dr Abraham’s research focuses on the female sex hormone estradiol and its effects on intracellular signalling systems in the brain. 

Estradiol plays a role in fertility and in neuroprotection, with women becoming 200 times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease after menopause. Discovering what estradiol does will help better hormone replacement therapies to be developed. Similarly, discovering its role in fertility will help infertile couples.

“This microscope will make a huge difference,” Dr Abraham says. “We will be able to detect the estradiol action on the movement and interaction of single molecules in the signalling system and the changes of membrane potentials in living neurons.”

The $1 million microscope has been in development for 12 months, and is a collaboration between Otago researchers and Olympus Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Europe and the United States.

It is funded by Physiology, the Otago School of Medical Sciences Dean’s Strategic Equipment Fund, the Centre for Neuroendocrinology and Olympus.