MRI: Acquisition of a Multi-photon Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope to Establish a Fluorescence Imaging Core Facility

这一重大研究仪器奖用于购买多光子激光扫描共聚焦显微镜，用于俄克拉荷马大学诺曼校区跨学科领域的研究和培训。这种新仪器具有更高的灵敏度和更快的速度，将显著提高俄亥俄大学校园和附近研究机构的各种生命科学和工程研究人员的活体和深层组织成像能力。这种新的共焦显微镜将被一些已经活跃在细胞和分子成像领域的NSF赞助的实验室以及将在他们的研究项目中纳入共焦成像的新用户使用。研究课题包括但不限于原始脊椎动物的神经脊迁移、果蝇的轴突生长和突触小泡运输、深层神经组织的钙成像、植物中蛋白质复合体形成的时空模式以及金属表面腐蚀过程中的生物膜生长和形态。新的显微镜将是教育和研究一体化的重要组成部分；学生将通过一门新的高年级本科生和研究生课程--应用共焦成像--进行初步培训，该课程由私人投资机构集体授课。此外，PI和他们的学生将与俄克拉荷马州农村和城市的K-12教师合作，开发和实施尖端的外展和课堂项目。这些研究、教学和推广工作的结果将通过学生和教职员工参加专业会议和通过同行评议的出版物广泛传播。

This Major Research Instrumentation award funds the acquisition of a multi-photon laser scanning confocal microscope for research and training in interdisciplinary fields on the University of Oklahoma (OU) Norman campus. The new instrument has higher sensitivity and faster speed and will significantly boost the capabilities for live and deep-tissue imaging by a diversity of life science and engineering researchers on the OU campus and at nearby research institutions. This new confocal microscope will be used by a number of NSF-sponsored laboratories that are already active in cell and molecular imaging as well as by new users who will incorporate confocal imaging in their research projects. The research topics include, but they are not limited to, neural crest migration in the primitive vertebrate lamprey, neurite outgrowth and synaptic vesicle trafficking in fruit flies, calcium imaging of deep nerve tissues, temporal and spatial patterns of protein complex formation in plants, and biofilm growth and morphology during corrosion of metallic surface. The new microscope will be an important part of education and research integration; students will be trained initially through a new upper undergraduate and graduate student course, Applied Confocal Imaging, taught collectively by the PIs. In addition, the PIs and their students will collaborate with rural and urban Oklahoma K-12 teachers in developing and implementing cutting-edge outreach and classroom projects. The results of these research, teaching, and outreach efforts will be broadly disseminated through participation of students and faculty at professional meetings and through peer-reviewed publications.