Replacement & Acquisition of Plant Growth Chambers

华盛顿州立大学(WSU)正在接受来自ARI计划的资金，用于更换用于植物科学研究的过时生长室。环境生长室是现代植物生物学研究基础设施的重要组成部分。随着教职员工扩大他们的实验研究，必须控制环境参数来调节大气气体水平，同时研究全球大气变化对植物生长的影响，并在研究基因调控机制的同时培育和维持转基因植物。目前的生长室已有20年的历史，机械和电气故障的程度令人无法忍受，严重损害了植物系的研究和培训任务。教师和学生研究人员必须能够接触到配备有高光强、湿度控制、气体交换能力和在线计算机监控的现代植物生长室。除了默多克慈善信托基金和西德克萨斯州立大学的资金外，这笔奖金还将用于建立环境植物生长实验室，这是一项高度优先的研究计划。综合实验室将由许多不同的植物生长室组成，创造一个具有最大灵活性的整体设施，以满足当前和未来的研究需要。足够的规模和多样性将使研究人员能够在未来20年内解决植物生物学的国家和国际问题。因此，该项目将对西澳州立大学的研究基础设施和培训任务产生积极影响，直至下个世纪。

Washington State University (WSU) is the receipt of funds from the ARI Program to replace obsolescent growth chambers for plant science research. Environmental Growth chambers are critical components of the basic infrastructure of modern plant biology research. As faculty expand their experimental studies, environmental parameters must be controlled to regulate atmospheric gas levels while investigating the effect of global atmospheric changes on plant growth, and to produce and maintain transgenic plants while studying the mechanisms of gene regulation. Current growth chambers are 20 years old and are experiencing intolerable levels of mechanical and electrical failures, severely impairing the research and training mission of the Botany Department. It is essential that faculty and student investigators have access to modern plant growth chambers equipped with high light intensities, humidity control, gas exchange capabilities, and on-line computer monitoring. This award, in addition to funding from the Murdock Charitable Trust and WSU, will be used to establish an Environmental Plant Growth Laboratory, a high priority research initiative. The integrated Laboratory will consist of a number of different plant growth chambers creating an overall facility with the maximum level of flexibility for current and future research needs. Being of sufficient size and diversity will enable investigators to address national and international issues of plant biology over the next two decades. Thus, this project will positively impact the research infrastructure and training mission of WSU well into the next century.