MRI: Acquisition of a Confocal Microscope to Enhance Undergraduate Research and Education at Hope College.

授予希望学院购买尼康A1激光扫描共聚焦显微镜系统，该系统将为翻新的显微镜设施提供基石，并改变生物，化学，地质和环境科学部门的广泛研究项目。简而言之，研究项目包括使用特征良好的模式生物秀丽隐杆线虫在发育过程中调节干细胞（线虫）和斑马鱼（Danio rerio）（斑马鱼），神经元中膜运输分子的研究，海胆刺中骨骼晶体取向的3D表面成像，生殖激素分泌对神经元功能的影响，参与细胞生长和血管生成的蛋白质的作用，用单分子化学研究相互作用，用寄生虫贾第虫研究DNA结合蛋白的进化生物学。一个显着的影响与共聚焦显微镜的收购是，研究人员将能够扩大他们的能力，收集数据在更高水平的光学质量，从而使他们能够执行更复杂的实验，特别是使用活样本，其中时间过程和分子定位研究是至关重要的。此外，共聚焦显微镜的使用将使研究人员能够在数据发布标准中保持各自领域的期望，从而使他们在外部研究资金方面更具竞争力。获得共聚焦显微镜将改变希望学院社区和超越两个主要方面。第一个主要影响是大量的本科研究人员将接受共聚焦显微镜的培训，其中包括希望学院的学生和接受夏季希望学术研究计划的非希望本科生。此外，夏季研究计划包括高中学生和教师接受到跨文化的研究经验在希望，重点是招募学生从代表性不足的人口在科学。积极从事本科和高中研究人员在希望学院的实验室培训使用尖端技术，如共聚焦显微镜的结果是，这些学生中的许多人继续追求科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）领域的博士学位。第二个主要影响是，参与这些项目的研究人员定期向公众介绍他们的研究。通过使用尖端技术收集数据，他们可以向公众展示更引人注目的项目，目标是：1）让更多的人参与科学过程，2）展示研究项目的相关性，从细胞功能到环境对当地生态的影响，3）招募有才华的学生进入STEM领域作为职业。

An award is made to Hope College for the purchase of a Nikon A1 laser scanning confocal microscope system that will provide the cornerstone for the renovated microscopy facility and transform a wide range of research projects in the departments of biology, chemistry and geological and environmental sciences. Briefly, research projects include regulation of stem cells during development using the well-characterized model organisms Caenorhabditis elegans (nematode) and Danio rerio (zebrafish), the study of membrane trafficking molecules in neurons, 3D surface imaging of skeletal crystal orientation in sea urchin spines, effects of reproductive hormone secretion on the function of neurons, the role of proteins involved in cell growth and angiogenesis, examining interactions with single molecule chemistry, and evolutionary biology studying DNA binding proteins using the parasite, Giardia lamblia. A significant impact with the acquisition of a confocal microscope is that investigators will be able to expand their abilities to collect data at a higher level of optical quality, thus enabling them to perform more complex experiments, especially using live samples, in which time course and molecular localization studies are critical. Furthermore, use of the confocal microscope will allow investigators to maintain the expectations of their respective fields in data publishing standards, thus, allowing them to be more competitive for external research funding. Acquiring a confocal microscope will transform the Hope College community and beyond in two major ways. The first major impact is the large number of undergraduate researchers that will receive training on the confocal microscope, which includes both Hope College students and non-Hope undergraduates accepted for the Summer Hope Academic Research Program. Additionally, the summer research programs include high school students and teachers accepted into the Research Experience Across Cultures at Hope, which focuses on recruiting students from under-represented populations in the sciences. The result of actively engaging undergraduate and high school researchers at Hope College for laboratory training using cutting edge technology, such as confocal microscopy, is that many of these students go on to pursue a PhD in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). The second major impact is that the investigators involved in these projects routinely present their research to the general public. By collecting data using cutting edge technology, they can present more compelling projects to the public with the goals of: 1) engaging more people in the scientific process, 2) demonstrating the relevance of the research projects, ranging in topics from cellular function to environmental impacts on local ecology and 3) recruiting talented students into the STEM fields as a career.