Acquisition of Instrumentation for Analysis of Materials and Energy Flux in Biological Systems

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9977494AbstractExamination of the ways organisms acquire, utilize, and transform energy and materials is at the core of many fields in the biological sciences including plant and animal physiology, ecology, and biogeochemistry. A new laboratory is to be constructed in the University of Mississippi Department of Biology that will specialize in such measurements, the University of Mississippi Laboratory for Analysis of Energy and Materials Flux in Biological Systems. The laboratory will be equipped with instrumentation for examination of fluxes of energy and materials through and between biological systems at levels of complexity ranging from cells to ecosystems. Precise, real-time, and long-term measurements of rates of biological productivity and respiration, assimilation efficiencies of enery and materials, and transformations of inorganic and organic materials across a heirarchy of biological organization will be possible using the instrumentationavailable in the laboratory. The laboratory is intended to be a catalyst for collaborative studies between researchers and students in other departments at the University of Mississippi, and at other institutions. Training of students in research methodologies will be accomplished through individual faculty-supervised undergraduate and graduate research projects, and through established laboratory courses including botany, ecology, microbiology, limnology, and physiology. Instruments to be included in the new laboratory include, (1) a Carlo Erba carbon-hydrogen-nitrogen-sulfur analyzer, (2) a Shimadzu total organic carbon analyzer, (3) two Hewlett-Packard gas chromatographs, (4) a Li-Cor Photosynthesis System, (5) a Parr 1266 oxygen bomb calorimeter, and (6)a Technicon continuous-flow autoanalyzer. The UM Laboratory for Analysis of Energy and Materials Flux in Biological Systems will provide a unique center for studies of biologically-mediated energy and materials transformations, helping to attract talented individuals of all backgrounds to careers in biological science.