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

加州州立大学(CSU)CHICO获得了一台荧光激活细胞分选(FACS)机器，这是现代生物学中的一种基本科学仪器，可以快速、客观和定量地记录来自单个细胞的信号及其物理分离。FACS机器将增强生物科学系的使命，并通过允许本科生、硕士学生和教职员工之间动手进行高影响力的研究，刺激与化学系和计算机科学系的跨学科项目。这种科学仪器将为生物专业的学生在生物科学领域的职业生涯做好准备，并通过在多个下级和高级班级、高级研究重点班级以及课堂外的个人学生研究项目中使用，增加本科生和硕士学生的教育机会。重要的是，FACS将促进科学系之间的跨学科努力，通过允许学生就真实的研究项目进行合作来改善生物、化学和计算机科学学生的教育体验。这些合作是必不可少的；作为一个跨学科团队合作解决复杂问题的能力是许多学生没有充分接触到的现代研究的一个基本方面。此外，收购一台FACS机将使CSU CHICO成为北加州领先的免疫学、化学生物学和生物信息学本科院校。CSU CHICO是一所服务于拉美裔美国人的公立大学，服务区域覆盖加州农村地区21%的地区。允许我们具有不同科学背景的不同学生群体与他们的同龄人进行跨学科研究活动，将建立他们对研究的热情，鼓励来自这一传统上服务不足的农村人口的学生继续深造，将这些研究领域结合在一起。这种对研究资本的投资还将使教职员工和学生获得更多的研究资助，使更多的动手、实用、高影响力的学习受益于社区。在现代生物学中，破译生物的基因组并了解给定组织、器官和单个细胞的基因表达变化的影响现在是标准方法，要求在询问单个细胞的基因表达变化之前将其分离。在FACS机器的支持下，具体的研究项目集中在了解负责血液干细胞增殖和成熟的基因，了解使血细胞群体异质性的基因表达差异，调查化学物质对这些过程的影响，以及阐明脊椎动物免疫系统的进化。此外，FACS机器将用于研究北加州不同地质位置的微生物生态，分析微生物和病毒病原体如何感染各种细胞，并了解植物和动物的细胞周期控制、细胞死亡的调节和蛋白质表达。重要的是，这些研究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，这就需要生物学家、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.