Project Details
Projekt
Slide Scanner
Subject Area
Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine
Term
since 2026
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 568581644
Cardiovascular diseases, often triggered by endocrine/metabolic dysfunctions, are the leading cause of death in Germany. The development of new preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic strategies is therefore a key challenge. Basic research at the LMU could identify promising target structures and develop innovative concepts. However, the translation of these concepts into clinical applications has been restricted by limited opportunities for validation in relevant close-to-human large animal models so far. In the new research building ICONLMU, existing resources are synergistically combined in order to develop new diagnostic and therapeutic procedures for endocrine-metabolic and cardiovascular diseases and to validate them preclinically in a bench-to-bedside approach. To this end, ICONLMU uses tailored (genetically modified) pigs for modeling of complex diseases in combination with state-of-the-art multimodal phenotyping. The interdisciplinary research program of ICONLMU focuses on three thematically and methodologically closely linked areas: (1) endocrine and metabolic dysfunctions, (2) vascular diseases and (3) myocardial, rhythm and valvular disorders. While (1) investigates basic mechanisms of diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome and their effects on the cardiovascular system, (2) evaluates new strategies for preventing atherosclerosis and atherothrombosis. Finally, (3) focuses on the development of new methods for the diagnosis and treatment of arrhythmias, valvular and myocardial diseases. In addition to comprehensive options for in vivo phenotyping of these pig models (including operating rooms, cardiac catheterization laboratory, CT, MRI, PET-CT, behavioral laboratory), ICONLMU also has a large laboratory area to enable investigations at the cellular level. In order to efficiently perform qualitative and quantitative morphological analyses of organ/tissue samples using modern digital imaging methods, the acquisition of a powerful digital slide scanner is essential. The acquisition of a suitable, automatic, digital high-throughput slide scanner with high resolution and the ability to detect multi-channel fluorescence signals is a prerequisite for establishing an efficient "analysis pipeline" for histomorphological phenotyping, particularly with regard to subsequent quantitative-stereological and (AI-based) digital imaging methods. The main application of the slide scanner will be the systematic histomorphological characterization of a wide variety of tissues, from which extensive tissue biobanks will be established in the future according to the Munich MIDY Biobank.
DFG Programme
Major Research Instrumentation
Major Instrumentation
Schnittbildscanner
Instrumentation Group
5040 Spezielle Mikroskope (außer 500-503)
Applicant Institution
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
