SOLICITATION NOTICE
66 -- Infrared (two-photon) laser
- Notice Date
- 3/29/2002
- Notice Type
- Solicitation Notice
- Contracting Office
- Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, Research Contracts Br., 6120 Executive Blvd. EPS Room 604, Rockville, MD, 20852
- ZIP Code
- 20852
- Solicitation Number
- NCI-RFQ-20035-NV
- Response Due
- 4/5/2002
- Archive Date
- 4/20/2002
- Point of Contact
- Deborah Moore, Purchasing Agent, Phone (301) 496-8609, Fax (301) 402-4513, - David Keefer, Contracting Officer, Phone (301) 435-3801, Fax (301) 480-0309,
- E-Mail Address
-
dm170b@nih.gov, dk63h@nih.gov
- Description
- The National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), Developmental Neural Plasticity Unit (DNP) plans to procure an Mira 900F Ti:S infrared (two-photon) laser with a 10-watt Verdi pump (Mira/Verdi system) from Coherent Laser Group, 5100 Patrick Henry Drive, Santa Clara, CA 95054. The DNP is currently engaged in the study of fundamental mechanisms that underlie the development and remodeling of neuronal circuits in the mammalian olfactory system. These studies use expressed fluorescent proteins (GFP, YFP, CFP, dsRed) in the olfactory system and will focus on imaging primary afferents as they converge and form synapses onto the olfactory bulbs. This imaging system will be used to determine the precise organization of the circuitry that surrounds olfactory bulb glomeruli and by simultaneously imaging pre- and postsynaptic components to specific glomerulus detect any remodeling of that circuitry. This will be accomplished by fluorescent labeling of individual olfactory cell types with different fluorophores that will then be distinguished in vivo (using a Zeiss 510 META scan head that will be combined with this laser system) and followed through glomerular development. To detect the full spectral range of fluorophores that will be used for these experiments and to access neural cell types throughout the layers of the olfactory bulbs (500 um thick) it is necessary to use a high power 2-photon laser system with wide tuning range. The tunibility (700nm and 1000nm) is essential for the wide variety of in vivo fluorescent markers that must be detected using this system which include the molecularly encodable GFP variants (CFP, GFP, YEP), dsRed as well as fluorescent tracers such as dextran-Rhodamine. The infrared laser is required to induce two-photon excitation of fluorophores in living brain tissue. Two-photon microscopy uses infared light that has half the energy required to elicit fluorescence: excitation only occurs where the beam is intense enough that two photons strike the same fluorophore molecule at the same time. To elicit sufficient fluorescence deep into living tissue, a high-power (10W) laser source is required; to reduce phototoxicity, that power is confined to intense, ultrafast (100 MHz) pulses of light (each pulse is <100 fs in duration). This system is commercial as defined in FAR Part 2, and this acquisition is being made in accordance with the test program using simplified procedures for certain commercial items as authorized in FAR 13.5. Coherent Laser Group is the only organization known to the NINDS researcher that has all the aforementioned features that are required and believed to be unique. This is not a request for competitive quotation. However, if any interested party believes it can meet the above requirement and the noted features, it may submit a statement of capabilities. The statement of capabilities and any other information furnished must be in writing and must contain material in sufficient detail to allow the NINDS research to determine if the party can perform this requirement. An original and one copy of the capability statements must be received in the contracting office by 1:00 p.m. EST, on April 5, 2002. All questions must be in writing and can be faxed to (301) 402-4513 or emailed to dm170b@nih.gov . It is the vendors responsibility to call (301) 402-4509 to insure questions have been received. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed requirement based upon responses to this notice is solely within the discretion of the Government. Information received will be considered solely for the purpose of determining whether to conduct a competitive procurement. No collect call will be accepted. NAICS 334516
- Place of Performance
- Address: 9000 Rockville Pike, Building 36, Bethesda, MD
- Zip Code: 20892
- Zip Code: 20892
- Record
- SN00050563-W 20020331/020329213147 (fbodaily.com)
- Source
-
FedBizOpps.gov Link to This Notice
(may not be valid after Archive Date)
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