Cell Culture Facilities for Organismal and Integrative Biology

要求国家科学基金会提供配套资金，以建立一个细胞/组织培养设施，供芝加哥生物学和解剖学系的研究人员和受训人员使用。 在过去的十年中，这个部门已经取得了应用分子生物学技术的有机体生物学问题的主要研究，并在训练学生做同样的。细胞/组织培养技术在这些发展中的缺席是显而易见的。 在建筑物中缺乏合适的设施，使部门研究人员无法分析培养细胞中的基因表达和进行生理研究。 使用校园其他地方的设施需要在长距离和恶劣天气下运输培养中的细胞/组织，这与拟议的研究不符。因此，正在寻求资金，以购置现场设施。建议的研究应用包括：（1）检查热休克蛋白HSP 70可能的分子伴侣活性;（2）在水蛭模型中研究与分化相关的基因表达;（3）在自然模型中阐明转录的温度敏感性调节（4）研究水流状态对海绵体内干细胞分化的影响，并建立优化生物系统中流体流动的实验模型;（5）在脑移植模型中检查学习的神经基础。拟议的设施将不仅允许这些项目进行，但也作为一个跳板，教育所有部门的人员有关的效用，承诺，和实践的细胞/组织培养。为此，首席执行官将定期举办讲习班，参加者包括部门人员和当地中学教员。

Matching funds are requested from the National Science Foundation to set up a cell/tissue culture facility for use by faculty investigators and trainees in the Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy of The University of Chicago. During the past decade, this department has made major studies in applying the techniques of molecular biology to problems of organismal biology, and in training students to do likewise. Conspicuous by their absence from these developments have been cell/tissue culture techniques. Absence of suitable facilities in the building prevents departmental researchers from analyzing gene expression in cultured cells and performing physiological investigations. Use of facilities elsewhere on campus necessitates transport of cells/tissues in culture over long distances and outside in inclement weather, which is incompatible with the proposed research. Accordingly, funds are sought to acquire facilities on site. Proposed research applications include (1) examination of possible molecular chaperone activity of a heat shock protein, hsp70; (2) study of gene expression associated with differentiation in a leech model; (3) elucidation of temperature-sensitive regulation of transcription in a natural model (the Ldh-B locus of the fish Fundulus); (4) investigation of effects of aqueous flow regime on stem cell differentiation in demosponges and development of an experimental model for optimizing fluid flow in biological systems; (5) examination of neural bases of learning in a brain explant model. The proposed facility would not only permit these projects to be carried out, but also serve as a springboard for educating all departmental personnel about the utility, promise, and practice of cell/tissue culture. To this end, the PIs would conduct regular workshops whose participant would include departmental personnel and local secondary school instructors.