MRI/RUI-Acquisition of a Confocal Microscope for Multiple Users at UNCG

MRI/RUI - 为 UNCG 的多个用户购买一台共焦显微镜

• 批准号: 0319021
• 负责人: Esther Leise
• 金额: $ 20.49万
• 依托单位: University of North Carolina Greensboro
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2003
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2003-09-01 至 2006-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0319021&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; RUI; Acquisition; Confocal; Microscope

A grant has been awarded to the University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG) under the direction of Dr. Esther Leise for the purchase of a confocal microscope as the focal point of a multi-user facility to be housed in and managed by the UNCG Department of Biology. Confocal microscopy is an enhanced form of fluorescence light microscopy that depends upon laser illumination and computerized image formation to eliminate out-of-focus and scattered light, thereby providing the user with unprecedented clarity of detail and information extraction capabilities that are impossible to replicate by traditional fluorescence microscopy. This instrument will be the first confocal microscope at UNCG and in the greater Greensboro metropolitan area and will allow researchers at UNCG to use confocal microscopy on a daily basis and to routinely train students in the use of this state-of-the-art microscopical method. The major users of this confocal microscope facility include Dr. Leise and 6 additional principal investigators from the Departments of Biology and Nutrition. All of the major users have active research programs that require confocal microscopy to maximize their data collection efficiency and to obtain data that is currently impossible to extract with existing university microscopy facilities. The research programs of all of the major users also involve undergraduate and graduate student research assistants, so students from each laboratory will be instructed in the use of the confocal microscope and will have ample opportunity to obtain hands-on experience in obtaining and analyzing confocal data. The research projects of the major users range from the molecular to the organismal, but all incorporate investigations into basic biological questions. Researchers will use confocal microscopy together with a broad range of model systems and organisms to study the changing patterns of gene expression and protein localization that occur during organismal development, to analyze the dynamics of subcellular protein trafficking and distribution in cultured cells, and to learn more about life cycles and geographic distributions of toxic microorganisms. Incorporation of confocal microscopy into Cell Biology Laboratory and Genetics Laboratory courses will expose some 250 undergraduates, including significant numbers of women and minority students, per year to the usefulness of this advanced microscopical instrument. The confocal microscope facility will improve ongoing research programs at UNCG and will enhance the teaching mission of that institution as well. The confocal facility will also affect the broader missions of campus life science departments by promoting interdisciplinary collaborations between students and faculty in at least 2 departments. The confocal microscope facility will also link activities at UNCG to local technologically-oriented businesses in the Greensboro area. The improved quality of campus research and educational experiences for UNCG students will promote the new Piedmont Triad biotechnology initiative as well as make UNCG students more competitive for careers in the fields of biotechnology and in the life and biomedical sciences.

在 Esther Leise 博士的指导下，北卡罗来纳大学格林斯博罗分校 (UNCG) 获得了一笔赠款，用于购买一台共聚焦显微镜，作为位于 UNCG 生物系并由其管理的多用户设施的焦点。 共焦显微镜是荧光显微镜的增强形式，它依靠激光照明和计算机化图像形成来消除失焦和散射光，从而为用户提供前所未有的细节清晰度和信息提取能力，这是传统荧光显微镜无法复制的。 该仪器将是北卡罗来纳大学和格林斯博罗大都市区的第一台共焦显微镜，将使北卡罗来纳大学的研究人员能够每天使用共焦显微镜，并定期培训学生使用这种最先进的显微镜方法。 该共焦显微镜设备的主要用户包括 Leise 博士和来自生物系和营养系的另外 6 名主要研究人员。 所有主要用户都有积极的研究计划，需要共焦显微镜来最大限度地提高数据收集效率，并获得目前无法使用现有大学显微镜设施提取的数据。 所有主要用户的研究项目还涉及本科生和研究生研究助理，因此每个实验室的学生将接受共焦显微镜使用的指导，并将有充足的机会获得获取和分析共焦数据的实践经验。 主要用户的研究项目范围从分子到有机体，但都包含对基本生物学问题的研究。 研究人员将使用共聚焦显微镜以及广泛的模型系统和生物体来研究生物体发育过程中发生的基因表达和蛋白质定位的变化模式，分析培养细胞中亚细胞蛋白质运输和分布的动态，并更多地了解有毒微生物的生命周期和地理分布。将共聚焦显微镜纳入细胞生物学实验室和遗传学实验室课程，每年将使约 250 名本科生（其中包括大量女性和少数民族学生）接触到这种先进显微镜仪器的用途。共焦显微镜设施将改善 UNCG 正在进行的研究项目，并将增强该机构的教学使命。 共聚焦设施还将通过促进至少两个院系的学生和教师之间的跨学科合作，影响校园生命科学系的更广泛的使命。 共焦显微镜设施还将把 UNCG 的活动与格林斯博罗地区的当地技术型企业联系起来。 北卡罗来纳大学学生的校园研究质量和教育体验的提高将促进新的皮埃蒙特三合会生物技术计划，并使北卡罗来纳大学学生在生物技术以及生命和生物医学科学领域的职业生涯中更具竞争力。