Modernization and Expansion of Equipment for Teaching Laboratories in Neurobiology and Animal Physiology

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This award provides funds to modernize and expand the Neurobiology and Animal Physiology laboratories in the Biology Department at Wake Forest University. The science of physiology is the analysis of function in living organisms. Physiology should be a part of any well-rounded undergraduate biology curriculum. Physiology can serve as a bridge between molecular biology and behavioral and ecological biology. Neurobiology, which includes the physiology of the nervous system, is a growing area of biology as evidenced in the increasing number of participants at the annual society for Neuroscience Meeting and the increase in funding in that area. Laboratories in neurobiology (neurophysiology) and physiology give undergraduate students a chance to manipulate and examine systems which they can relate to their own bodies. Many of the students taking these courses are preparing for professional careers in medicine, dentistry, and veterinary medicine. Physiology laboratories give students an opportunity to test their manual skills and dexterity which they may use in their future careers. The Neurobiology and Animal Physiology courses are taught in alternate semesters and the new equipment will be used in both courses. The new instrumentation will have several effects. (1) It will free research equipment that the P.I. is now using to teach the Neurobiology laboratories. (2) It will allow more students to take the Neurobiology lab. (3) It will allow for an increase in the number of experiments performed in Animal Physiology. (4) It will allow students in Animal Physiology to do the same experiments at the same time. (5) It will introduce students to the use of computers in physiological science. The grantee is matching this award with non-federal sources.