MRI/RUI: Acquisition of a Transmission Electron Microscope for Multidisciplinary Research and Education

在T·佩奇·欧文博士的指导下，康涅狄格大学获得了一笔赠款，用于购买植物学、化学、心理学和动物学系使用的数字透射电子显微镜。该中心将推进细胞和材料科学方面的研究和研究培训活动。与学院的其他科学和数学系一样，生命科学、化学和神经生物学的课程设置致力于为其专业提供出色的教育体验，包括多学科研究培训和拨款支持的研究机会。科学界最重要的理念是，本科生的教学和研究是一项统一的活动。瞬变电磁将满足现场和实践中使用现代仪器作为研究工具的巨大需求。获得生物和化学样本的TEM将对教职员工和学生体验的生产率和质量产生巨大的智力影响，将来自四个不同系的教职员工聚集在一起，在正在进行和计划的研究项目中进行跨学科的冒险，包括：(1)植物细胞中高尔基体的组装和活动，(2)不会飞的果蝇的翅膀肌肉组织的结构，(3)滞育后淡水海绵细胞分裂的控制，(4)小鼠星形胶质细胞表达周期蛋白依赖的蛋白激酶的变化，(5)大鼠大脑中神经递质对捕食气味的免疫定位，以及(6)具有层状和隧道结构的微孔锰氧化物的组织。这些研究计划包含了本科生在教师研究中非常有意义的参与。通过学生发起的研究，其他研究项目也将使用新的瞬变电磁。有了这台仪器，不同系的教员还可以开始在上分裂细胞和发育生物学、神经科学以及物理、无机和分析化学课程的实验室进行超微结构实验。此外，新的透射电子显微镜的数字成像能力将使细胞和组织超微结构的调查在入门课程中成为可能。该仪器将通过将透射电子显微镜引入课程，对植物学、化学、心理学和动物学教育计划产生广泛的影响，以前它在课程中的能力有限。在初级到高级实验室中通过现代瞬变电磁仪器的常规动手操作获得的经验，以及与教师的个人研究项目，将对学生来说是无价的，并且是为不同水平的学生为科学事业做准备的教育过程中至关重要的一部分。

A grant has been awarded to Connecticut College under the direction of Dr. T. Page Owen for the purchase of a digital transmission electron microscope (TEM) to be used by the Departments of Botany, Chemistry, Psychology and Zoology. The TEM will advance research and research training activities in cellular and materials sciences. Along with the rest of the science and math departments at the College, the programmatic offerings of the life sciences, chemistry and neurobiology are dedicated to providing its majors with an outstanding educational experience, including multidisciplinary research training and grant-supported research opportunities. The overarching philosophy in the sciences is that teaching and research with undergraduates is one unified activity.TheTEM will fulfills tremendous need for on-site and hands-on access to modern instrumentation as a research tool. Acquisition of the TEM for biological and chemical samples will have an immense intellectual impact on the productivity and quality of faculty and student experiences, bringing together faculty from four different departments into an interdisciplinary venture in ongoing and planned research projects, including: (1) the assembly and activity of the Golgi apparatus in plant cells, (2) the structure of wing muscle tissue in flightless Drosophila, (3) the control of cell division in freshwater sponges after diapause, (4) the changes in mouse astrocytes expressing a cyclin-dependent protein kinase, (5) the immunolocalization of neurotransmitters in rat brains in response to predator odor, and (6) the organization of microporous manganese oxides with layered and tunneled structures. These research plans incorporate very meaningful participation by undergraduates in faculty research. Additional research projects, through student-initiated research, will also use the new TEM. With the instrument, faculty in the different departments can also begin implementing ultrastructural experiments in laboratories of upper division cell and developmental biology, neuroscience, and physical, inorganic, and analytical chemistry courses. Additionally, thedigitally imaging capabilities of the new TEM will make surveys of cell and tissue ultrastructure possible in introductory courses.This instrument will have a broad impact on the botany, chemistry, psychology,and zoology education programs by introducing TEM into the curriculum, where it waspreviously present in a limited capacity. Experience gained through the routine hands-onoperation of modern TEM instrumentation in beginning- to advanced-level laboratories, in addition to individual research projects with faculty, will be invaluable for the students, and a critically important part of the educational process of preparing students at different levels for careers in science.