Acquistion of a Laser Confocal Microscope for an Integrated Microscopy Facility at Union College

联合学院的Quynh Chu-LaGraff博士、Barbara Boyer博士、Barbara Danowski博士、Stephen Horton博士和Robert Lauzon博士获得了一笔赠款，用于购买一台共焦显微镜，作为翻新的集成显微镜设施的中心部件。这一仪器将大大增强和扩大五个教员的研究能力，他们的兴趣范围从细胞运动学、无脊椎动物发育和进化、遗传发育、程序性细胞死亡，到分子神经科学。此外，共焦技术作为一种创新工具，将被整合到课堂实验室培训和个别师生项目中，以丰富本科生的研究经验。在生物系内，目前有许多项目代表了生物科学的细胞、遗传学、分子和发展方法的整合。具体地说，研究包括使用苍蝇和小鼠模型系统更好地了解人类神经系统疾病、原始生物体分段的演变、中心体重新定位在迁移培养细胞中的作用、控制蘑菇发育的遗传和分子机制，以及对集群海鞘Botryllus schlosseri细胞程序性死亡的基本了解。该仪器代表着一项重要的投资，以保持和提高教师研究和本科生研究人员培训的学术研究水平。它还将通过绕过在其他地方获得共焦显微镜的需要，促进联合学院更积极和更有成效的教职员工和学生研究互动。

A grant has been awarded to Drs. Quynh Chu-LaGraff, Barbara Boyer, Barbara Danowski, Stephen Horton, and Robert Lauzon at Union College to acquire a confocal microscope to be the centerpiece for a renovated Integrated Microscope facility. This instrument would substantially enhance and expand the research capabilities of five faculty with interests ranging from cellular motility, invertebrate development and evolution, genetic development, programmed cell death, to molecular neuroscience. Moreover, confocal technology as an innovative tool will be integrated into classroom laboratory training and individual student-faculty projects to enrich the research experience of undergraduates. Within the Biology Department, there are currently numerous projects that represent the integration of cellular, genetics, molecular, and developmental approach to biological science. Specifically, research include using fly and mouse model systems to better understand human neurological diseases, evolution of segmentation in primitive organisms, the role of centrosome reorientation in migrating cultured cells, genetic and molecular mechanisms governing mushroom development, and basic understanding of programmed cell death in colonial sea squirt Botryllus schlosseri. The instrument represents a critical investment to maintain and enhance academic research excellence both for faculty research and for the training of undergraduate researchers. It will also facilitate more active and productive faculty and student research interactions at Union College by bypassing the need to gain access to a confocal microscope elsewhere.