Roche discovery ultra

The National Institutes of Health Office of the Director awarded $175,000 to J. David Gladstone Institutes on September 1, 2026, under the Research Infrastructure Programs (CFDA 93.351) to acquire a Roche Discovery Ultra IHC/ISH research platform for the Histology and Light Microscopy Core.

The platform will automate immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry slide processing, which staff currently perform manually with time-consuming, costly, and variable results. The Discovery Ultra will enable the core to offer RNA in situ hybridization services—a technique for visualizing and localizing specific RNA molecules within cellular and tissue environments—and will allow imaging for both brightfield and fluorescence using existing slide scanners. Automation will optimize workflows for greater consistency and accuracy and enable advanced protocols that cannot currently be offered as services.

The Histology and Light Microscopy Core serves researchers from Gladstone, UCSF Mission Bay, and biotechnology companies in the Bay Area and has operated for more than twenty years. Performance is at San Francisco, California 94158. The award period runs through August 31, 2027.

Abstract

The histology and light microscopy core (hlmc) at gladstone has been established for more than twenty years and offers services to researchers from gladstone, ucsf mission bar and biotechnology companies from the BAY area. The requested equipment is the roche discovery ultra IHC/ISH research platform. Currently, staff in the hlmc manually process immunofluorescence and immunohistochemistry slides, which can be time-consuming, costly and have variable results. Both immunofluorescence (utilizes fluorescently labeled antibodies to visualize the location and expression of specific proteins), and immunohistochemistry (utilizes chromogens and enzymes for the same purpose as immunofluorescence) would be able to be automated using the discovery ultra and then imaged for both brightfield and fluorescence using the two slide scanners available in the hlmc. The hlmc is also unable to offer services that are being requested by scientists including RNA ISH, which is a technique for visualizing and localizing specific RNA molecules within cellular and tissue environments, providing spatial and temporal information on gene expression. With the acquisition of the discovery ultra, this would enable lab staff to carry out other histological work, optimize workflows for greater consistency and accuracy, expand services and automate advanced protocols which currently cannot be offered as a service. With a deep understanding of how the human body works and what goes wrong in disease, we focus on conditions with profound medical, economic, and social impact.