Acquisition of a Multi-user Seagoing Cell Sorting Laboratory

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The PI proposes to acquire a multi-user, seagoing cell sorting laboratory to support research, training, and education in the field of marine microbiology. Rapid advances now occurring in molecular biology, marine microbial ecology, and flow cytometric technology make this an especially opportune time for such an at-sea cell sorting laboratory. A specially designed container laboratory for ship-board use will be built to house the high-speed cell sorter instrument, along with ancillary support equipment. The laboratory will be used to 1) identify and isolate new microbes for cultivation, 2) match the identity and activity of microorganisms in the ocean at the single cell level, and 3) develop new approaches and applications using a cell sorter as a micro-sampler. Broader Impacts:The proposed facility has potential to impact and be used by a variety of users from at different institutions. There is a strong training and education element to the proposed use of the instrumentation which includes the Phytoplankton Culture course at Bigelow Laboratory and the proposed availability of the instrumentation to undergraduate student interns from the University of New England as well as Bowdoin, Bates, and Colby Colleges. The availability of a sea-going high-speed sorting flow cytometry facility would provide a very important advancement in the instrumentation available for conducting studies in marine microbial ecology at sea.