MRI/RUI: Acquisition of a Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope

在约翰·亨森博士的指导下，迪金森学院获得了一笔赠款，以支持购买激光扫描共聚焦光学显微镜。 在细胞生物学，神经生物学和发育生物学的研究和教育中使用光学显微镜的持续复兴已经被共聚焦显微镜系统的能力所推动。 由于它们能够“光学切片”细胞和组织，因此允许定义结构关系所需的3D空间分辨率沿着遵循动态过程所需的时间分辨率，因此它们已成为首选仪器。 迪金森学院是一所本科院校，拥有优秀的学生/教师研究记录和创新的科学教育项目，将使用这种共聚焦显微镜来支持学生/教师的研究，本科教育和社区推广。共聚焦显微镜系统将配备显微注射装置，并将支持各种各样的学生/教师研究项目。 细胞运动和分裂的机制将在使用海胆成体细胞和胚胎的实验中得到解决。 肝脏如何运输有毒废物将是利用滑冰肝细胞培养的研究重点。在胚胎发育过程中特定基因的开启和关闭将使用果蝇胚胎进行研究。 神经控制的变态软体动物胚胎和本地化的记忆机制在大脑中的条件日龄小鸡将涉及使用这种仪器的其他研究的主题。本科研究生将在所有这些项目的整体参与者，有助于实验设计，执行和分析，以及在会议上的结果和结果在科学期刊上发表的介绍。在对本科教育的影响方面，该仪器将被纳入细胞生物学，发育生物学，神经生物学，分子遗传学和生物心理学课程的教学中。迪金森共聚焦显微镜的存在将产生许多重大和广泛的影响。重要的是，该仪器将作为迪金森神经科学新的跨学科专业的基础之一，该专业将涉及从生物学和心理学课程中选择的课程。在为代表性不足的学生群体提供服务方面，目前女生在生物学、生物化学和分子生物学及心理学专业的本科生中约占75%。我们还设想使这种仪器提供给教师和学生在葛底斯堡和富兰克林和马歇尔学院，其他两个成员学院的中央宾夕法尼亚州联盟，以及使用宾夕法尼亚科学院和美国细胞生物学学会会议作为论坛，讨论共聚焦显微镜在一个小的大学设置的应用。 此外，我们计划撰写研究型教学实验室，利用共聚焦发表在新的在线杂志细胞生物学教育。在社区推广方面，共聚焦显微镜将用于霍华德休斯医学研究所资助的项目，当地高中教师将参加迪金森的细胞和分子生物学暑期讲习班。教师将在这些讲习班期间使用该仪器，并在学年期间提供给来访的高中学生团体使用。

A grant has been awarded to Dickinson College under the direction of Dr. John Henson to support the acquisition of a laser scanning confocal light microscope. The ongoing renaissance in the use of light microscopy for research and education in cell biology, neurobiology and developmental biology has been fueled by the capabilities of confocal microscopy systems. They have become the instrument of choice due to their ability to "optically section" cells and tissues and therefore allow for the 3D spatial resolution needed to define structural relationships, along with the temporal resolution needed to follow dynamic processes. Dickinson College, an undergraduate institution with an excellent record of student/faculty research and an innovative science education program, will use this confocal microscope to support student/faculty research, undergraduate education, and community outreach.The confocal microscopy system will be equipped with a microinjection set up and will support a wide variety of student/faculty research projects. The mechanism of cell motility and division will be addressed in experiments using sea urchin adult cells and embryos. How the liver transports toxic waste will be the focus of studies using cultures of skate liver cells. The turning on and off of specific genes during embryonic development will be worked on using fruit fly embryos. The neural control of metamorphosis in molluscan embryos and the localization of memory mechanisms in the brains of conditioned day old chicks will be subject of other studies involving the use of this instrument. Undergraduate research students will be integral participants in all of these projects, contributing to experimental design, execution and analysis as well as the presentation of results at meetings and the publication of the results in scientific journals. In terms of impact on undergraduate education, the instrument will be incorporated into the teaching of courses in cell biology, developmental biology, neurobiology, molecular genetics and biopsychology.The presence of a confocal microscope at Dickinson will have a number of significant and pervasive broader impacts. Importantly this instrument will serve as one of the underpinnings for a new interdisciplinary major in Neuroscience at Dickinson that will involve coursework selected from the offerings of the Biology and Psychology programs. In terms of service to underrepresented student groups, women undergraduate students currently make up roughly 75% of the Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Psychology majors. We also envision making this instrument available to faculty and students at Gettysburg and Franklin and Marshall Colleges, the two other member colleges of the Central Pennsylvania Consortium, as well as using both the Pennsylvania Academy of Sciences and the American Society for Cell Biology meetings as fora for discussing applications of confocal microscopy in a small college setting. Furthermore, we plan to write up research-oriented teaching labs that utilize the confocal for publication in the new on line journal Cell Biology Education. In terms of community outreach, the confocal microscope will be used in a Howard Hughes Medical Institute-funded program in which local high school teachers attend summer workshops in cell and molecular biology at Dickinson. The instrument will be used by teachers during these workshops and made available for use by visiting high school student groups during the academic year.