Fluorescent/Phase Contrast Microscopy for a Cellular and Aquatic Biology Program Focusing on Chesapeake Bay Ecology

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The rapidly expanding Biology Department of Washington College is modernizing and upgrading the portions of its curriculum concerned with cellular/molecular phenomena, i.e. its courses in Genetics, Cell Biology, Microbiology, Aquatic Biology, Cell Physiology and Biochemistry, and a new course in Immunology. Much of this advance results from new capabilities conferred through the procurement of a light microscope with phase contrast and fluoresence features obtained through this award. This new instrument permits students to actually view such features and activities as membrane receptor sites and their motility, antigen-antibody specificity, and membrane transport. Since the Washington College Biology Department capitalizes upon its location on the Eastern Shore of Maryland to involve itself in studying the ecology of Chesapeake Bay, one important application of the new microscope is to facilitate investigations that distinguish heterotrophic from autotrophic protozoa in mixed, naturally occurring populations. This award is an especially timely one for Washington College, coming as it does on the heels of a $1.2 million special appropriation from the State of Maryland for upgrading the school's science facilities and for enhancing its ability to contribute to analytical studies of the Bay.