MRI/RUI: Acquisition of a Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope

在John Henson博士的指导下，Dickinson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是由共聚焦显微镜系统的能力推动的。它们已成为首选工具，因为它们具有“光学切片”细胞和组织的能力，因此允许定义结构关系所需的3D空间分辨率，以及遵循动态过程所需的时间分辨率。狄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计划，将使用这种共聚焦显微镜来支持学生/教师的研究，本科教育和社区外展。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/教师的研究项目。细胞运动和分裂的机制将在海胆成体细胞和胚胎的实验中讨论。肝脏如何运输有毒废物将是利用滑板肝细胞培养研究的重点。胚胎发育过程中特定基因的开启和关闭将利用果蝇胚胎进行研究。软体动物胚胎变态的神经控制和条件日龄雏鸡大脑中记忆机制的定位将是涉及使用该仪器的其他研究的主题。本科生将成为所有这些项目不可或缺的参与者，参与实验设计、执行和分析，以及在会议上展示结果并在科学期刊上发表结果。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等课程的教学中。Dickinson的共聚焦显微镜的出现将产生许多重要的和普遍的更广泛的影响。重要的是，该仪器将作为Dickinson新跨学科神经科学专业的基础之一，该专业将涉及从生物学和心理学项目中选择的课程。在对代表性不足的学生群体的服务方面，目前在生物学、生物化学、分子生物学和心理学专业，女性本科生约占75%。我们还设想将这台仪器提供给葛底斯堡学院和富兰克林马歇尔学院的教职员工和学生，这是中部宾夕法尼亚联盟的另外两所成员学院，同时利用宾夕法尼亚科学院和美国细胞生物学学会的会议作为论坛，讨论共聚焦显微镜在小型大学环境中的应用。此外，我们计划撰写以研究为导向的教学实验室，利用共聚焦在新的在线期刊《细胞生物学教育》上发表。在社区外展方面，共聚焦显微镜将用于霍华德休斯医学研究所资助的一个项目，该项目由当地高中教师参加Dickinson的细胞和分子生物学暑期讲习班。该仪器将在这些讲习班期间由教师使用，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.