Acquisition of a Preparative Ultracentrifuge and Tabletop Superspeed Centrifuge for Faculty Mentored Undergraduate Research Training in Biology

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Acquisition of a Preparative Ultracentrifuge and Tabletop Superspeed Centrifuge for Faculty Mentored Undergraduate Research and Training in BiologyUniversity of St. Thomas, Dept. of Biology, Houston, TX 77006 A grant has been awarded to Dr. Romagni at the University of St. Thomas to acquire a preparative ultracentrifuge and supporting desktop superspeed centrifuge. It includes the cost of several necessary rotors, service for three years, and required training for personnel using the equipment. This instrumentation is an important component of departmental research strategy and fills an obvious void in the current undergraduate biology research program. The equipment will by used by undergraduate students at the University of St. Thomas, an ethnic minority serving undergraduate institution with a majority of women students, in independent research projects and in the classroom. These investigations are part of a faculty/student mentoring approach that has grown out of work originating in biology classes, and/or to research that is tied to the foci of various faculty. The equipment will also be integrated into such introductory biology classes as General Biology and, more intensively, in upper division undergraduate classes, such as Molecular Ecology, Cell Biology, Plant Physiology, Plant Physiological Ecology, and Biochemistry. Current faculty research that will utilize the acquired instruments include the molecular ecology and population dynamics of marine invertebrates used as indicators of estuarine water quality. They will also investigate the population genetics of several insect vectors of plant disease, in particular, whiteflies. Another area of research includes studies of whitefly-vectored viruses of plants. Finally, the equipment will be used for the ecophysiological/biochemical studies of plant secondary metabolites, the elucidation of their modes of action and their potential as environmentally friendly pesticides. With these funds, many of the current projects that require subcontracting of non-campus personnel to run experiments or that require faculty to complete some work off-campus, will be completed at the University of St. Thomas. This is a clearly advantageous for students who require a comprehensive laboratory experience as part of their science education. Not only will funding allow students to complete entire experiments/protocols themselves, it would also enable them to gain valuable technical skills for future work in the biological sciences and complete projects for publication in peer reviewed journals. Finally it will permit faculty to undertake research activities currently not possible because of the lack of centrifuge capabilities at their institution.