A Scanning Electron Microscope for Studies in Developmental Biology

该合同支持购买扫描电子显微镜（SEM），该显微镜可以在传统的高真空和可变压力模式下工作。冷泉港实验室的至少七个研究小组将使用该仪器来研究动植物的发育遗传学。将使用显微镜的项目包括玉米和拟南芥的叶片和分生组织发育分析；拟南芥花和胚珠发育分析；线虫细胞死亡的发育遗传学研究；果蝇GTPase信号转导的发育生物学研究以及对果蝇大脑中与学习和记忆发展相关的形态学变化的分析。扫描电镜对这些研究至关重要。冷泉港实验室植物组利用基因诱捕转座子诱变技术对拟南芥进行了系统的新突变研究。扫描电镜将提供一种方法来快速表征这些突变的形态学变化以及细胞形状或规格的变化。此外，SEM还将用于培养研究生和博士后，以及在植物领域具有广泛影响的拟南芥分子遗传学冷泉港实验室课程，以及CSHL的DNA学习中心。与传统的SEM相比，易使用的可变压力SEM允许样品在几分钟的解剖内可视化，而无需进行广泛的样品制备，自动化设置和“微软Windows”格式的标准操作意味着用户可以快速培训。因此，这台显微镜对冷泉港实验室的研究和教学将产生重大影响。

This award supports the acquisition of a scanning electron microscope (SEM) that operates under conventional high vacuum as well as variable pressure mode. The instrument will by used by at least seven research groups at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory to study the developmental genetics of plants and animals. Projects that will use the microscope include the analysis of leaf and meristem development in maize and Arabidopsis; analysis of the Arabidopsis flower and ovule development; the developmental genetics of cell death in the nematode C. elegans; developmental biology of GTPase signaling in Drosophila; and the analysis of morphological changes associated with the development of learning and memory in the Drosophila brain. The SEM is essential for these studies.The Plant Group at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is engaged in a systematic search for new mutations in Arabidopsis using gene trap transposon mutagenesis. The SEM will provide a means to rapidly characterize these mutations in terms of morphological changes as well as changes in cell shape or specification. In addition the SEM will be used for training graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, and in the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory course in Arabidopsis molecular genetics, which has a wide impact on the plant field, and in the DNA Learning Center at CSHL. The ease of use of the variable pressure SEM, compared to conventional SEMs, allows samples to be visualized within minutes of dissection without the need for extensive sample preparation, and the automated settings and the standard operations in 'Microsoft Windows' format means that users can be quickly trained. Therefore the impact of this microscope on research and education at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory will be substantial.