MRI: Aquisition of Apparatus to Support Multi-User Basic Research and Instruction in the Neurosciences

该奖项为里士满大学(UR)提供了一套神经科学和动物行为记录设备，其中包括具有电动舞台和图像分析(IA)功能的荧光显微镜；电动冷冻恒温器；组织学处理系统；组织切片振荡器；神经元跟踪软件；带触摸屏的自动行为分析系统；声学惊悚盒；以及活动监测器。这种互补性和高通量的设备将使UR及其附属学生和教职员工在了解大脑发育方面取得进一步进展。几种不同的调查人员组合将使用所要求的设备：UR神经科学、心理学和生物学的研究人员和博士后研究员；UR及其附属大学和学院(弗吉尼亚州阿什兰的兰道夫-梅肯学院；弗吉尼亚联合大学，弗吉尼亚州里士满的历史上的黑人学院；宾夕法尼亚州卡莱尔的迪金森学院)的教职员工、研究生和本科生；以及来自国际机构的学生和教职员工。这些教职员工将设计可以通过最新的客观自动行为记录设备进行分析的行为实验，包括基本和复杂的社交互动。低温恒温器和振荡器以及自动化免疫组织学仪器将允许更快、更有效和更可靠地处理脑组织。自动化的IA和神经元识别和三维绘图功能，以及新的双标记和三标记免疫荧光技术将为重要的神经化学物质提供精确的神经元定位。总而言之，这种设备将使研究人员能够对母亲和父亲的大脑进行许多详细、全面和互补的行为和多种抗原标记研究--这些研究在此之前很难很好地进行，如果有的话。这一设备的加入将大大增加学生的数量--广义的、校内外的、国际的等等--他们可以接触到神经科学的基础研究和指导，并获得经验。在这个过程中，这些调查人员可以回答有价值的问题，培训大量未来的科学家，并与科学界和非科学界分享信息，包括当地和国家媒体，以及里士满K-12学校、博物馆和医院。

This award provides support to The University of Richmond (UR) for a suite of neuroscience and animal behavioral-recording equipment, which includes a fluorescence microscope with motorized stage and image analysis (IA) capabilities; motorized cryostat; histological processing system; tissue-sectioning Vibratome; neuron tracing software; automated behavioral analysis system with touch screen; acoustic startle boxes; and activity monitors. This complementary and high-throughput equipment will allow UR and affiliated students and faculty to make further advances in understanding the development of the brain. Several different combinations of investigators will use the requested equipment: research faculty and postdoctoral fellows at UR in Neuroscience, Psychology and Biology; faculty, graduate and undergraduate students from UR and affiliated universities and colleges (Randolph-Macon College, in Ashland, VA; Virginia Union University, a Historically Black College in Richmond, VA; Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA); and students and faculty from international institutions.These faculty and students will design behavioral experiments that can be analyzed by the latest objective automated behavioral recording devices, including basic and complex social interactions. The cryostat and Vibratome and automated immunohistological apparatus will allow faster, more efficient, and more reliable processing of brain tissue. Automated IA and neuronal identification and 3-dimensional drawing features, as well as new double- and triple-labeling immunofluorescent techniques will provide precise neuronal localization of important neurochemicals. In sum, this equipment will allow the investigators to conduct many detailed, comprehensive, and complementary behavioral, and multiple antigen-labeling studies of maternal and paternal brains - studies that heretofore were difficult to perform well, if at all. The addition of this apparatus will significantly increase the numbers of students -- broadly defined, on and off-campus, international, etc. -- that can be exposed to, and gain experience in, basic research and instruction in the neurosciences. In the process, these investigators can answer valuable questions, train a significant number of future scientists, and share the information with the scientific and lay communities alike, which include local and national media, and metro-Richmond K-12 schools, museums, and hospitals.