FSML: Improving the Detection, Enumeration and Visualization of Aquatic Microorganisms at the Romberg Tiburon Center, SFSU

旧金山州立大学（SFSU）获得了一笔拨款，用于在Romberg Tiburon环境研究中心（RTC）的研究和教育工作中显著提高其可视化、表征和枚举海洋微生物的能力，该中心是一个校外海洋研究和教学设施。这笔拨款将通过购买两种主要仪器来提高RTC对微生物研究的分析能力：1)配备差分干涉对比（Nomarski）棱镜和高清数字成像和分析系统的最先进的倒置荧光显微镜（奥林巴斯IX81型），以及2)用户友好且易于维护的流式细胞仪（BD Biosciences Accuri C-6）。所要求的显微镜将取代旧的、联合使用的和私人的显微镜，这些显微镜光学性能较差，缺乏图像捕获和解释的能力。流式细胞仪将允许及时定量和表征自然和培养的浮游植物和细菌，以及微生物组合。由于其相对简单和紧凑的设计，该仪器将用于实验室和海上研究调查。新仪器的广泛影响是通过跨越跨学科和机构界限的贡献。包括来自其他大学、联邦和州机构的研究人员在内的RTC合作研究工作将受益于这些仪器在量化和描述目前正在研究的浮游生物系统方面的改进和增加的功能，包括在旧金山湾、热带大西洋和太平洋西北部进行的多学科研究。来自显微镜平台的数字视频和图像将供RTC的外联协调员使用，与公众分享研究内容，并用于当地的教育工作。期望使用这两种仪器的RTC研究人员积极参与研究生和本科生的教学，尽管显微镜和流式细胞仪将主要用于研究目的，但预计这两种仪器将用于SFSU研究生和本科生的培训。欲了解更多有关该中心的信息，请访问其网站http://rtc.sfsu.edu/。

San Francisco State University (SFSU) has been awarded a grant to significantly increase their capabilities to visualize, characterize and enumerate marine microorganisms in their research and educational efforts at the Romberg Tiburon Center for Environmental Studies (RTC), an off-campus marine research and teaching facility. The grant will increase RTC's analytical capabilities for microbial research by the purchase of two major instruments: 1) a state-of-the-art inverted, epifluorescence microscope (Olympus model IX81) equipped with differential interference contrast (Nomarski) prisms and a high-definition digital imaging and analysis system, and 2) a user-friendly and easy-to-maintain flow cytometer (BD Biosciences Accuri C-6). The requested microscope will replace older, joint-use and private microscopes that are of lesser optical performance, and lack the capability for image capture and interpretation. The flow cytometer will permit timely quantification and characterization of both natural and cultured phytoplankton and bacteria, and microbial assemblages. Due to its relative simplicity and compact design, the instrument will be employed in both laboratory and at-sea research investigations.The broader impacts of the new instrumentation are through contributions that bridge interdisciplinary and institutional boundaries. Collaborative RTC research efforts involving investigators from other universities, and both federal and state agencies will benefit from the improvements and increased functionality provided by these instruments in quantifying and characterizing planktonic systems currently under study, including multi-disciplinary studies in San Francisco Bay, the tropical Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Northwest. Digital video and imagery from the microscope platform will be available for use by RTC's Outreach Coordinator to share research content with the general public, and for use in local educational efforts. The RTC investigators expected to utilize the two instruments are actively engaged in graduate and undergraduate instruction, and although the microscope and flow cytometer will be used primarily for research purposes it is expected that that both instruments will be utilized in the training of SFSU graduate and undergraduate students. For further information about the center please visit its website at http://rtc.sfsu.edu/.