Multi-user Confocal Microscopy at Cornell University

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This award supports the purchase of confocal microscope to be used for research in cell and developmental biology by a group of 7 faculty and their students. The equipment will also be available for use by a large number of other Cornell faculty and students, irrespective of their departmental affiliations. The confocal scanning laser microscope has become a critical and essential tool in research because of its ability to non-invasively image structures and processes in living cells, and visualize macromolecular interactions in real time. Among the planned uses are studies of: the mechanisms that regulate the movement of macromolecules within and between plants; the interactions of the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas synringae with its host (tomato); the structure and function of biological membranes; the role of plastids and mitochondria in the growth and development of plant cells; the physiological roles of ion channels; the development of the olfactory system using zebrafish as a model; and the action of essential reproductive proteins and their effectors in Drosophila. It is expected that these and other studies will generate important contributions to our understanding of macromolecular interactions, organelle biogenesis and cellular remodeling in plants, animals and, as well, microbes.