Lawrence Carin, PhD, Duke’s Vice President for Research, and Greg Eppink, Leica Microsystems Americas, pose with a special glass plaque created for the new Leica Microsystems Center for Excellence at the Light Microscopy Core Facility/ Duke Cancer Institute Light Microscopy Shared Resource. The plaque now graces the entrance to room 377, Nanaline Duke building. (photo by Colin Huth)
Duke and Leica Microsystems Establish Center of Excellence in Microscopy
Duke University and Leica Microsystems, Inc., have formally established a Leica Microsystems Center of Excellence at the Duke University Light Microscopy Core Facility/Duke Cancer Institute Light Microscopy Shared Resource.
The collaboration was made official at a signing ceremony on Wednesday, Feb. 19, between Lawrence Carin, Ph.D., Duke’s Vice President for Research, and Greg Eppink, Leica Microsystems Americas General Manager of Microscopy, followed by a ribbon-cutting.
The center supports a mission to drive new discoveries and insights from scientific research performed using three new Leica imaging systems — the stimulated emission depletion (STED) super-resolution microscope, the Deep in vivo Explorer (DIVE) multiphoton imaging microscope, and the Leica SP8 confocal. This technology allows researchers to capture images and digital movies of the cellular and molecular processes of life.
“A scientist’s insight is only as good as their tools,” said Carin. “We’re very pleased to have this microscopy center on campus to help our investigators see ever deeper into the mysteries of life.”
Director of the Light Microscopy Core Facility, Lisa Cameron, Ph.D., and the microscopy specialists Yasheng Gao, Ph.D., and Benjamin Carlson, Ph.D., who run the day-to-day operations of the core.
Advancing Cancer Science
Colin S. Duckett, Ph.D., Vice Dean for Basic Science at the Duke School of Medicine, emphasized Duke’s commitment to supporting basic biomedical research.
“The fact that our biologists at Duke have the latest-breaking most cutting-edge equipment is obviously a win for us,” he said, addressing the faculty in attendance. “Our job is to lower the barriers so that you can do some fantastic science.”
Leica will support routine maintenance and upgrades of its imaging systems, while the LMCF will give Leica important feedback on functionality and workflow.
“It’s very exciting to be able to advance into the future of scientific research in collaboration with a top-tier institution like Duke,” said Eppink. “With this agreement, we’re enabling researchers to push beyond the boundaries of what can be visualized and quantified. We look forward to continuing this alliance for years to come.”
Carin recognized the “incredible effort” by LMCF director, Lisa Cameron, PhD, in building this new collaboration and lauded her work running the LMCF since August 2016.
“The Light Microscopy Core is one of the most heavily used cores at Duke, fundamental to research across the university,” remarked Carin. “Your leadership is greatly appreciated.”
Christopher Counter, Ph.D., chair of the Duke Cancer Institute Shared Resource Oversight Committee and professor of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology (facing front), chats with fellow DCI member Scott Soderling, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Cell Biology, at the celebratory reception. (photo by Colin Huth)
Partnership
The LMCF was initially formed from several departmental microscope resources in the Levine Science Research Center. The Department of Biology and the Department of Pharmacology & Cancer Biology teamed up, along with the then Comprehensive Cancer Center's Confocal Microscopy Shared Resource, to hire a director in 2006 to establish and run a cooperative microscope facility for the two departments.
The facility received substantial funding from the Office of the Provost and the Dean of the Medical School in 2007 to purchase new equipment and become a resource for the entire Duke community. The facility remains a Duke Cancer Institute (DCI) Shared Resource.
Cameron thanked the university, DCI, and the School of Medicine for their investment in the continuous expansion of the LMCF and its technologies. She also expressed her appreciation for biologist Daniel P. Kiehart, Ph.D., and cancer biologist and DCI member Daniel Julio Lew, Ph.D., who’ve been LMCF advisors since the facility’s founding and for microscopy specialists Yasheng Gao, Ph.D., and Benjamin Carlson, Ph.D., who’ve been running the day-to-day operations of the facility for years.
Cameron also gave a shout-out to Scott Soderling, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Cell Biology and a member of DCI and the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, for his department’s support in hosting the main LMCF location, Nanaline Duke building.
During a celebratory reception following the ceremony, Cameron, Gao, and Carlson gave informal tours of the new Leica imaging systems to a couple dozen Duke researchers and Duke and Leica officials.
The new Leica imaging systems are housed on campus in room 377 of the Nanaline Duke Building and in room 4229 of the Medical Science Research Building III.
“Leica Microsystems will serve as an excellent partner to help push forward the technology to perform advanced light microscopy imaging on a range of samples that are part of the research going on at Duke University, Duke Cancer Institute (DCI), and the Duke School of Medicine,” said Cameron.
As a centrally funded shared resource, the LMCF’s aim is to offer affordable and efficient access to standard and advanced imaging instrumentation for users of all levels of experience and from any discipline across Duke University and the Duke Medical Center campuses. The LMCF can help with live cells, fixed samples, model organisms, small animals, single-molecule imaging, or at most points in between.
The LMCF houses more than 22 microscope systems and nine image analysis workstations — including Leica, Andor Technologies, Carl Zeiss Imaging, Olympus, General Electric, Hamamatsu, and Molecular Devices — across the core’s four campus locations.
Related News
In August 2023, a team of volunteers led by Trinitia Cannon, MD (third from left), Leda Scearce, CCC-SLP, MM, MS, and Dina Abouelella, MPH, which also included Tammara Watts, MD, PhD (center) and Katharine Ciarrocca, DMD, MSEd, partnered with North Raleigh International Baptist Church and Duke Raleigh Hospital to offer head and neck cancer screenings. Dozens of families from the Cedar Creek Apartment Complex community came out for the free screenings, education, and games, and Duke Raleigh Hospital donated backpacks full of school supplies.
TheDuke University School of Medicine Department of Head and Neck Surgery & Communication Sciences (HNS&CS) recently launched Project CHECKERS (Community Head and NEck Cancer Knowledge, Engagement, Research and Screening) a Duke Cancer Institute-funded pilot project to bring head and neck cancer resources and education to the broader Durham community.
Led by DCI head and neck surgeon Trinitia Cannon, MD, an associate professor in the Department, the project will be the Department’s first community-based participatory research project and the first such head and neck cancer screening and cancer prevention education project in North Carolina.
Evolving Community Research
The Project CHECKERS team will use a mixed methodology, which includes traditional surveys and screenings as well as interviews and focus groups.
One of their community partners will be the Cedar Creek Apartment Complex community in North Raleigh. Many of these families are refugees — from at least seven different countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East — who speak Farsi, French, Swahili, Arabic, and other languages. They are building new lives in North Carolina, in a culture and language that is new to many of them. As is the case with many similar communities, their healthcare needs often go unmet.
The investigators believe that, compared to traditional methods, mixed-method research is an improved way to establish a community partnership, highlight gaps in the community’s knowledge and risk perception, and pave the way for successful future health interventions.
According to co-PI Nosayaba (Nosa) Osazuwa-Peters, BDS, MPH, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Head and Neck Surgery & Communication Sciences, Project CHECKERS takes an important step in improving community engagement.
“Traditional research is very systematic, very top-down. The researchers have knowledge and decide what they believe the community needs. But these outside scientific experts do not know the values, the culture, the knowledge, or the risks inherent in that community,” he explained.
For example, traditional surveys restrict participants to answering either yes or no; for many people, that binary does not tell a complete story.
“Project CHECKERS will help us understand the lived experiences of people in these communities,” added Osazuwa-Peters. “We’ll learn about context, and we’ll learn to ask questions that allow community members to express themselves. We’ll get responses we would never get based on yes or no.”
Building a Partnership
Project CHECKERS kicked off this fall with focus groups and interviews with community members facilitated by Laura Fish, PhD, MPH, assistant professor in Family Medicine and Community Health, Duke University School of Medicine, and program director for the Behavioral Health and Survey Research Core (a DCI shared resource). An advisory board will provide feedback from both clinical and community perspectives.
Lessons learned from these conversations will help the team develop a knowledge and risk factor survey that will be administered during two head and neck cancer screening events with the community in 2024.
The CHECKERS team will also recruit providers outside the department to participate in these events to address other health concerns in the community such as primary care, mental health, and women’s health.
The long-term goal of Project CHECKERS is to show the benefits of tailoring head and neck cancer screening programs to the communities being served, and how that personalization can improve prevention, early detection, and overall survival in high-risk individuals who have limited access to care.
Noted Osazuwa-Peters, “The mixed-methods framework helps us understand not just whether an intervention works, but how, why, and for whom.”
Community Partners
Another plus to mixed-methods research is its appeal to community partners who might otherwise be hesitant to work with researchers.
“The design places a high value on the stories behind the numbers,” explained Cannon, “so these projects are especially attractive to community partners such as faith-based organizations, whose priority is improving practice and outcomes, more so than research and advancing knowledge.”
Project CHECKERS will provide a valuable bridge between Duke and the North Raleigh International Baptist Church (NRIBC), which ministers to a large immigrant community. NRIBC’s Pastor, Patrick Warutere, invited Duke to participate in the church’s inaugural Health and Dignity for All Fair in Raleigh in 2022. Cannon and CHECKERS co-PI Leda Scearce,CCC-SLP, MM, MS, a Duke speech pathologist and director of Community Engagement for the Department of HNS&CS, recruited nurses, medical students, and resident volunteers to provide HNC screenings for the event.
“We immediately felt a kinship with NRIBC’s Pastor Patrick Warutere and his leadership team,” shared Searce. “By the end of the day, we knew we wanted to continue to work together and set up a meeting the following week.”
Duke HNS&CS and the NRIBC team worked closely to develop the research plan and ensure that the goals and expectations of each group were aligned and transparent.
“That relationship with NRIBC has enabled us to incorporate the community’s perspectives into the development of Project CHECKERS,” said Scearce. “Our aim was to amplify the assets and expertise of the community members themselves.”
Cannon anticipates that Project CHECKERS will become a framework for future projects.
“We are looking forward to similar initiatives in hearing health for older adults, right-hemisphere stroke awareness, and more.”
Breast surgical oncologist and Mary and Deryl Hart Distinguished Professor of Surgery Eun-Sil Shelley Hwang, MD, MHS, with Oluwadamilola "Lola" Fayanju, MD, MA, MPHS, FACS, in early 2020.
Dr. Hwang was Chief of Breast Surgery at Duke at that time and Dr. Fayanju was an assistant professor of Surgery, Division of Surgical Oncology. Dr. Fayanju is currently Chief of the Breast Surgery Division at Penn Medicine.
A study initiated at Duke University School of Medicine lays bare significant racial and gender disparities in America’s surgical leadership.
Of the 2,165 faculty members included across 154 departments, men overwhelmingly claimed the top spots in surgical leadership, making up 85.9% of department chairs, 68.4% of vice chairs, and a staggering 87% of division chiefs.
What’s more a mere 8.9% of these leadership roles were filled by those from underrepresented racial or ethnic groups.
While women made a modest showing as vice chairs at 31.6%, they remained underrepresented elsewhere. Many of these women and those from underrepresented racial or ethnic groups were clustered in roles linked to diversity and faculty development, which might not pave the way to top department positions.
The study in JAMA Surgery — led by Oluwadamilola “Lola” M. Fayanju, MD — stands out because the research team of surgeons, trainees, and biostatisticians looked in detail at different leadership roles and the implications these disparities have for the pipeline to department chair.
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