BURLINGTON — Neuroscientist Davi Bock leads the initiative as an associate professor of neurological sciences at the University of Vermont's Robert Larner, M.D. College of Medicine. Co-principal investigators include Doug Taatjes, director of the University of Vermont's Microscopy Imaging Center, and Mark Ellisman, a professor of neurosciences and neuroengineering at the University of California San Diego who directs the National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research there. "We built a searchlight to look at one type of problem, and now, with a purpose-built facility for advanced work like this, we will use it to look at many, many different problems," Davi Bock said.

He said: "It's a new combination and application of technology at scale. There is so much about the natural world that we don't fully understand, but to unlock those secrets research efforts must occur at a much greater scale. That's what the new observatory will do."

Tissue samples preserved in resin will be cut into ultrathin slices before a high-throughput electron microscope at the University of Vermont's Firestone Medical Research Building captures images. Approximately $16 million of the grant will support Bock's work at the University of Vermont, while approximately $3 million will fund support from the University of California San Diego. The project aims to make advanced imaging capabilities accessible to scientists across the United States.

He has studied connectomics for two decades. His laboratory acquired the electron microscopy images that an international collaboration used to produce the first wiring map of an adult fruit fly’s entire brain, reported in Nature in 2024. The adult fruit fly brain contains over 140,000 neurons.

"This new national center will be globally unique in pointing high throughput volume microscopes at the full spectrum of biology. Right now, that doesn't exist anywhere else," he said.

Ellisman described the collaborative design of the facility. "The NCUVO design is about transforming the latest sample preparation, multimodal imaging, and computational technologies into a shared national capability rather than a specialty only available to a few," Ellisman said.

The observatory will pilot four research projects during the five-year grant period. One pilot project will analyze how a mouse learns, while another will study how a shark sees in murky water.

Kirk Dombrowski, Vice President for Research and Economic Development at the University of Vermont, stated that the funding represents confidence in the institution. "The National Science Foundation's support for this project is an investment in the essential work of discovery, and we are tremendously grateful for its confidence in UVM and our partners," Dombrowski said. "Think of it as an observatory of very distant stars, but for the tiniest worlds within biology," Kirk Dombrowski said.

Richard Page, dean of the Larner College of Medicine and Chief Medical Affairs Officer at the University of Vermont, noted the potential medical applications. "This observatory is being established to first study normal tissue and get down to the cellular connection level for neurons and the like. But the next step is after the basic science defines the anatomy, and the biology is to apply this information that we didn't have before to human disease. And that's what I find, as a physician, to be really exciting," Page said.

Why It Matters

The establishment of the NCUVO represents a shift toward making high-resolution biological imaging a shared national resource rather than a specialized capability limited to a few institutions. By integrating advanced microscopy, sample preparation, and supercomputing resources, the project seeks to provide researchers across the United States with tools to visualize biological structures at unprecedented scales. The University of Vermont's Microscopy Imaging Center has been designated as a National Bioimaging Resource by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, providing critical infrastructure for this effort.

Timeline

On January 1, 2024, the wiring map of the adult fruit fly's brain was reported in Nature. The National Science Foundation awarded a $19 million grant to the University of Vermont. On the same date, it was confirmed that the grant funds the National Connectomics and Ultrastructure Volume Observatory (NCUVO). Also on that date, it was established that the University of Vermont will serve as the national coordinating hub for the project.

What's New

Later reporting indicates that the University of Vermont's Microscopy Imaging Center has been designated as a National Bioimaging Resource by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), providing critical infrastructure and expertise for advanced imaging research across the U.S. The center also has a history of collaboration with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), including a 2018 partnership to develop new tools for visualizing neurodegenerative disease mechanisms.

Additional details confirm that the relevant number is $19 million, which is the total amount of the grant awarded by the National Science Foundation to the University of Vermont to establish the National Connectomics and Ultrastructure Volume Observatory (NCUVO). In 2022, the University of California San Diego's National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research (NCMIR) published a study in Nature Methods detailing a new technique for ultra-high-resolution imaging of synapses, which is now being integrated into the NCUVO project.

The University of Vermont has previously received significant federal funding for neuroscience research, including a $12 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2021 to support the development of advanced neuroimaging technologies. In 2022, the University of Vermont received a $5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to expand its bioimaging capabilities, demonstrating a sustained commitment to advancing imaging technologies in life sciences. Richard Page stated, "This observatory is being established to first study normal tissue and get down to the cellular connection level for neurons and the like. And" In 2024, Mark Ellisman’s team at UC San Diego published a landmark study in the journal Science that detailed the use of cryo-electron microscopy to map the ultrastructure of synapses with unprecedented resolution, further establishing his leadership in high-resolution biological imaging.

How Sources Differ

Sources differ on specific details regarding the National Science Foundation grant.

Sources also differ on details regarding the University. The University of Vermont press release states that the project integrates high-throughput electron microscopy at the University of Vermont with sample preparation expertise at the University of California San Diego's National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research. UVM Launches $19 Million National Observatory to Unlock… states that the University of Vermont has previously received significant federal funding for neuroscience research, including a $12 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2021 to support the development of advanced neuroimaging.

Further differences appear regarding the University.

Sources differ on details regarding the National.

Sources differ on details regarding the National Science Foundation.

Sources differ on details regarding the Ultrastructure Volume Observatory.