Acquisition of Flow Cytometry and Light Microscopy Facility at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

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This grant supports the acquisition of equipment to significantly upgrade facilities available in the Woods Hole, Massachusetts scientific community for optical characterization of microbial populations, tissue cultures, microscopic particles, and/or the processes dependent on visualizing these assemblages and constituents. Funds are requested for the purchase of a Becton Dickinson FACSCalibur flow cytometer and Zeiss inverted light microscope and image analysis facility. These instruments are essential and complementary for a wide array of applications among the scientific staffs of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL). The light microscopy facility will include two condenser systems to accommodate a range of magnifications and specimen holders, a temperature-controlled stage for the examination of specimens and cultures at experimental or in- situ temperatures, a micromanipulation system for establishing cultures and cell lines, cooled CCD camera, high quality image analysis software for documentation of particle sizes, abundances, and other characteristics, particularly very low fluorescent signals. The flow cytometer that has been purchased is the latest version of the `workhorse' of the field, known for its reliability and versatility. This instrument will be equipped with a sorter that will allow verification sorting of microbial groups for chemical/biological analyses or culture initiation, and a carousel loader to enable multiple sample processing and mixing. These specific instruments have been chosen because they combine (1) highly complementary measurements of microscopic organisms or particles, (2) they are major advancements over the present capabilities within the Woods Hole scientific community, (3) they are user-friendly and will therefore have much wider use than more sophisticated but more specialized equipment of this nature, and (4) they are cost- efficient to run and maintain becaus e of the larger number of potential users. The microscopy and flow cytometry facilities will be a direct benefit to the research programs of at least two dozen laboratories within WHOI and MBL. Their availability will address long-standing deficits in the common use equipment at WHOI, and they will favorably affect the successful completion of projects totaling more than 50 federal and other grants, contracts, and awards.