Flow Cytometry and Molecular Multi-User Facility at BIOS

为了充分描述和了解区域和全球气候以及基本的海洋过程和功能，科学家需要收集大量信息。某些问题，如海洋如何应对全球气候变化，只能通过深入分析在相当长的一段时间内连续收集的数据来回答，也称为时间序列研究。百慕大海洋科学研究所（BIOS）（www.bios.edu）是一个独立的美国非营利组织和百慕大注册慈善机构，是世界上运行时间最长的几个开放海洋时间序列研究计划（Hydrostation 'S '，百慕大大西洋时间序列（BATS）计划和海洋通量计划（OFP））的所在地。百慕大靠近公海的独特地理位置，加上百慕大海洋研究所的海洋学支助基础设施，为解决海洋科学紧迫问题的研究举措提供了理想场所。BIOS的新流式细胞术和分子多用户设施（FCMMF）将提供基本分子仪器、内部流式细胞仪（用于细胞计数、细胞分选和生物标志物检测的基于激光的技术）和垂直采样的设备海洋。这一项目将增加可在当地解决的重要问题的数量，同时降低所有用户将样本运出岛外的相关费用和风险。大量的访问科学家和与外部科学家正在进行的科学合作，其中许多与NSF支持的研究计划，意味着FCMMF提供的设备将对整个海洋科学界的研究能力产生深远的影响。重要的是，FCMMF将协助BIOS满足学生对尖端技术研究培训日益增长的需求。BIOS的教育目标是通过研究海洋科学使学生沉浸在体验式学习中。对于许多学生来说，这可能是一个开创性的变化，他们的机构缺乏海洋科学项目或进行独立研究的机会。在BIOS的教育经验可以影响决定STEM教育和职业轨迹的决定，学生离开更好地准备追求职业生涯和/或研究生课程。这一新设施包括实地取样设备，将提供一种机制，以垂直分层方式收集浮游生物群落（微型至中型浮游生物）的个体。所选的干式实验室设备平台具有多功能性、易于使用和低维护的特点。流式细胞仪模型将允许分析直径从50 nm到200 μ m的颗粒，促进从环境微生物生态学到真核细胞生物学的广泛研究。如果需要，该单元的模块化能力将允许未来的改进和扩展。该设施的分子组成部分将允许进行基本分析，并支持下一代测序的样品制备。FCMF将使BIOS的广泛研究计划以及访问科学家的研究计划受益。除了对基础研究的好处外，FCMF设施还明确设计用于学生实习，当前的BIOS课程和新课程的开发，特别是现代生物海洋学课程。自2010年以来，BIOS每年平均接待105名访问科学家和750多名学生，其中大部分来自美国机构。FCMMF允许BIOS为科学家和学生提供解决众多不同生物学问题的能力。除了生物海洋学，该项目将有利于各种各样的研究计划，包括海洋无脊椎动物的基因组结构和基因表达，珊瑚虫的幼虫寿命和基因流，开放海洋微生物和真核生物群落的时间和空间精细尺度表征，生物体对海洋酸化的反应，以及影响海洋-大气碳气体交换的生物过程。

In order to fully characterize and understand both regional and global climate, as well as fundamental ocean processes and functions, scientists are required to collect a wealth of information. Certain questions, such as how the ocean responds to global climate change, can only be answered by in-depth analysis of data collected continuously over a significantly long period of time, also known as a time-series study. The Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) (www.bios.edu), an independent U.S. not-for-profit organization and a Bermuda Registered Charity, is home to several of the longest running, open-ocean time-series research programs in the world (Hydrostation 'S', the Bermuda Atlantic Time Series (BATS) Program and the Ocean Flux Program (OFP)). Bermuda's unique geographic position in close proximity to the open ocean, combined with BIOS' oceanographic support infrastructure, provide an ideal venue for research initiatives that address pressing issues in the ocean sciences. The new Flow Cytometry and Molecular Multi-User Facility (FCMMF) at BIOS will provide access to basic molecular instrumentation, in-house flow cytometer (laser-based technology used in cell counting, cell sorting and biomarker detection) and devices to vertically sample the ocean. This project will expand the number of important questions that can be locally addressed, while reducing the cost and risk associated with shipping samples off-island for all users. The large number of visiting scientists and ongoing scientific collaborations with external scientists, many with NSF-supported research programs, means that the equipment provided by the FCMMF will have a far reaching impact on the research capacity of the marine sciences community as a whole. Importantly, the FCMMF will assist BIOS in meeting the increasing student demand for research training in cutting-edge techniques. The educational goal of BIOS is to immerse students in experiential learning through research in the ocean sciences. This can be a seminal change for many students whose institutions lack programs in marine science or the opportunity to conduct independent research. Education experiences at BIOS can influence decisions that determine STEM education and career trajectories, with students leaving better prepared to pursue professional careers and/or graduate programs. This new facility includes field sampling equipment that will provide a mechanism to collect individuals of the planktonic community (nano to mesoplankton) in a vertically stratified way. The chosen dry lab equipment platforms are characterized by their versatility, easy use and low maintenance. The Flow Cytometer model will allow the analysis of particles from 50 nm to 200 ìm in diameter, facilitating a wide spectrum of studies, from environmental microbial ecology to eukaryotic cell biology. The modularity capability of this unit will allow for future improvement and expansion if desired. The molecular component of the facility will allow basic analyses and also support sample preparation for next-generation sequencing. The FCMMF will benefit a wide range of research programs at BIOS, as well as those of visiting scientists. Paralleling the benefits to basic research, the FCMMF facility has been explicitly designed for use with student internships, current BIOS courses and the development of new courses, particularly a modern biological oceanography course. Since 2010, BIOS has hosted an average of 105 visiting scientists and over 750 students annually, most of them from US institutions. The FCMMF allows BIOS to provide scientists and students with the ability to address numerous and diverse biological questions. In addition to biological oceanography, this project will benefit a wide variety of research programs including genome structure and gene expression in marine invertebrates, larval longevity and gene flow in corals, temporal and spatial fine-scale characterization of open ocean microbial and eukaryotic communities, organismal response to ocean acidification, and the biological processes influencing ocean-atmosphere gas exchange of carbon.