MRI: Acquisition of a Fluorescence-Avtivated Cell Sorter (FACS) to Enhance High-Impact Learning

授予加州州立大学（CSU）奇科分校一项奖励，以获得荧光激活细胞分选（FACS）机，这是现代生物学中必不可少的科学仪器，可快速，客观和定量记录来自单个细胞的信号以及它们的物理分离。该流式细胞仪将加强生物科学系的使命，并通过允许动手，本科生，硕士生和教师之间的高影响力的研究，刺激与化学和计算机科学系的跨学科计划。该科学仪器将为生物科学专业的职业生涯做好准备，并通过在多个低年级和高年级班级，高级研究班以及课堂外的个别学生研究项目中使用，为本科和硕士水平的学生提供教育机会。重要的是，FACS将促进科学部门之间的跨学科努力，通过允许学生合作进行真实的研究项目来改善生物学，化学和计算机科学学生的教育体验。作为一个跨学科的团队一起工作，以解决复杂问题的能力是现代研究的一个重要方面，许多学生没有充分接触。此外，收购一台流式细胞仪将建立CSU奇科，一个西班牙裔服务的公立大学，其服务区域跨越21%的加州农村地区，作为一个领先的本科院校在北方加州的免疫学，化学生物学和生物信息学。允许我们不同科学背景的学生群体与同龄人一起进行跨学科的研究活动，将培养他们对研究的热情，鼓励来自传统上服务不足的农村人口的学生继续深造，联合收割机结合这些研究领域。这项研究资金的投资也将使教师和学生获得更多的研究赠款，允许更多的动手，实用，高影响力的学习，造福社会。在现代生物学中，破译生物体的基因组和了解给定组织，器官和单个细胞的基因表达变化的影响现在是标准方法，需要在询问其基因表达的变化之前分离单个细胞。由流式细胞仪实现的具体研究项目集中在理解负责血液干细胞增殖和成熟的基因，理解使血细胞群体异质性的基因表达差异，研究化学物质对这些过程的影响，并阐明脊椎动物免疫系统的进化。此外，流式细胞仪将用于研究北方加州不同地质位置的微生物生态学，分析微生物和病毒病原体如何感染各种细胞，并了解植物和动物细胞周期控制，细胞死亡和蛋白质表达的调节。重要的是，从这些研究中产生的数据需要结合生物过程，化学信号和计算分析的知识，需要生物学家，化学家和计算机科学家共同努力解决复杂的问题。

An award is made to California State University (CSU), Chico to acquire a Fluorescence- Activated Cell Sorting (FACS) machine, an essential scientific instrument in modern biology that provides fast, objective, and quantitative recording of signals from individual cells as well as their physical separation. The FACS machine will enhance the mission of the Department of Biological Sciences and stimulate an interdisciplinary program with the Departments of Chemistry and Computer Science by allowing hands-on, high impact research between undergraduate students, Master's students, and faculty members. This scientific instrument will prepare biology majors for careers in the biological sciences and enhance educational opportunities for students at the undergraduate and Master's level by being utilized in multiple lower- and upper-division classes, advanced research-focused classes, and for individual student research projects outside of the classroom. Importantly, the FACS will catalyze an interdisciplinary effort between scientific departments, improving the educational experience of biology, chemistry, and computer science students by allowing authentic research projects for students to collaborate on. These collaborations are essential; the ability to work together as an interdisciplinary team to solve complex problems is an essential aspect of modern research that many students do not have adequate exposure to. Additionally, acquisition of a FACS machine will establish CSU Chico, a Hispanic- serving public university with a service area that spans 21% of rural California, as a leading undergraduate institution in Northern California for immunology, chemical biology, and bioinformatics. Allowing our diverse student population with different scientific backgrounds to perform interdisciplinary research activities with their peers will build their enthusiasm for research, encouraging students from this traditionally underserved rural population to pursue further studies that combine these research fields. This investment in research capital will also allow faculty and students to attain more research grants, allowing more hands-on, practical, high-impact learning that benefits the community.In modern biology, deciphering an organism's genome and understanding the effects of changes in the gene expression of a given tissue, organ, and individual cells is now standard methodology, requiring the isolation of individual cells before interrogating changes in their gene expression. Specific research projects enabled by the FACS machine are focused on understanding the genes responsible for the proliferation and maturation of blood stem cells, understanding the differences in gene expression that make blood cell populations heterogeneous, investigating the effects of chemicals on these processes, and elucidating the evolution of the vertebrate immune system. Additionally, the FACS machine will be utilized to study microbial ecology in diverse geological locations in Northern California, to analyze how microbial and viral pathogens infect a wide variety of cells, and to understand plant and animal cell cycle control, the regulation of cell death, and protein expression. Importantly, data generated from these studies requires combining knowledge of biological processes, chemical signaling, and computational analyses, necessitating that biologists, chemists, and computer scientists work together to solve complex problems.