MRI: Acquisition of a super-resolution microscope for Boston College

波士顿学院获得了一项奖励，以支持获得一台超分辨率结构照明显微镜，该显微镜将由生物、化学、物理和心理学系的研究人员共享。这项资助的每个合作项目每年都会培训多名本科生，这些本科生将从使用超分辨率显微镜的经验中受益匪浅。此外，这台显微镜将作为一个通用的培训和招聘平台，吸引更多不同背景的本科生进入生命科学领域。具体来说，显微镜将通过每年招收24名学生的高级细胞成像课程直接纳入本科课程。此外，该显微镜将被纳入由系里的教师开展的许多推广活动，包括为代表性不足的学生提供研究日和女性参与科学技术项目。最后，我们还与卫尔斯利学院（Wellesley College）展开了一项合作，卫尔斯利学院是一所极具竞争力的女子学院，该学院将在研究项目中使用这台显微镜，并将包括每年培训12名女性的现代生物成像课程。因此，充实一般的本科培训，特别是妇女和代表性不足群体的培训，是这一文书的一项主要职能。超分辨率显微镜对当今的细胞生物学研究至关重要。这一事实在诸如美国细胞生物学学会年会等国际会议的整个会议上都得到了突出的体现，而且如果没有超分辨率显微镜所实现的空间分辨率，手稿的数量是不可能的。波士顿学院拥有大量的细胞生物学家，以及一个设备齐全的、由大学资助的成像设备。超分辨率显微镜功能的增加将扩展可以提出的问题，以及可以解决的问题的深度。此外，它还将成为招聘新教师、博士后研究员和研究生的工具。总之，超分辨率的能力是必要的，不仅是为了推动目前基于细胞的研究，也是为了培养未来的科学家。波士顿学院的SR-SIM系统将最大限度地实现这两个目标，并将作为一种工具，在一些地区机构中发展教师和学生之间的合作。

An award is made to Boston College to support the acquisition of a Super-Resolution Structured Illumination Microscope that will be shared by researchers in the Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Psychology departments. Each of the co-PIs on this grant trains multiple undergraduates every year, and these undergraduates will benefit dramatically from experience using a super-resolution microscope. Furthermore, this microscope will be used as a general training and recruitment platform to draw more undergraduates from diverse backgrounds into life-science. Specifically, the microscope will be directly incorporated into the undergraduate curriculum via the Advanced Cellular Imaging Course which enrolls 24 students annually. Additionally, the microscope will be incorporated into many outreach efforts run by faculty in the department including Research Day for Under-represented Students and the Women in Science and Technology Program. Finally, a collaboration has been initiated with Wellesley College, a highly competitive college for women, which will have access to this microscope for research projects, and will include in the class Modern Biological Imaging, which trains 12 women every year. Thus, enrichment of undergraduate training in general, and for women and under-represented groups specifically, is a primary function of this instrument.Super-resolution microscopy is crucial to cell biological research today. This fact is highlighted by entire sessions at international meetings such as the American Society for Cell Biology Annual Meeting being devoted to the technique, and by the volume of manuscripts that would not be possible without the spatial resolution made possible by super-resolution microscopy. Boston College has a critical mass of cell biologists, and a well-equipped, University-funded, imaging facility. The addition of Super-Resolution Microscopy capabilities will expand the questions that can be asked, and the depth to which questions can be addressed. Furthermore, it will be a tool for the recruitment of new faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students. In conclusion, super-resolution capabilities are necessary, not only to drive cell based research today, but to properly train future scientists. The SR-SIM system at Boston College will be maximized for both goals and will additionally be used as a tool to develop collaborations between faculty and students at a number of area institutions.