MRI: Acquisition of a fluorescence microscope to serve as a regional resource for dynamic, live-specimen imaging research and education

詹姆斯麦迪逊大学（JMU）获得了一个奖项，用于资助收购一个自动荧光显微镜系统，用于动态活体标本成像，以推进JMU和弗吉尼亚州周边地区的研究和教育。这种仪器将扩大在JMU和邻近机构的多个部门的研究范围，使教师和学生能够研究分子，细胞和组织的动力学。JMU及其邻近的大部分学院主要是本科院校，并致力于通过教师指导的研究让学生参与学习。事实上，学生负责超过95%的总研究使用我们的核心显微镜设施。新的显微镜系统将为这些学生提供我们地区其他地方无法获得的实时成像和多荧光技术，并将扩大该设施的能力，为本科生增加研究机会。这种仪器还将通过为学生提供光学显微镜技术的实践培训，加强正式的高年级课程，如人类组织学和环境微生物学。此外，为了扩大我们对本科研究培训的影响，我们将与布里奇沃特学院的生物系（一个邻近的小型文科学院）合作，为他们的高年级课程提供机会。最后，该显微镜系统将通过加强JMU生物系的当地小学外展计划来支持北方谢南多厄河谷地区的科学，技术，工程和数学（STEM）教育。该计划为所有学生提供K-5课程，无论他们的学术准备，语言和文化障碍以及社会经济地位如何，都可以激发早期对科学的兴趣（但通常只适用于特定人群）。这种最先进的仪器将被集成到五年级的学习模块，重点是细胞的组成和动态性质。新的荧光显微镜系统将为JMU和该地区的研究人员开辟新的研究途径，使他们能够研究从分子组装到整个生物体的多层次生物组织的动态过程，并通过容纳多荧光-标记成像与更广泛的多样性的荧光探针。它将推进来自三个机构和多个STEM领域的至少16名教师的研究和培训计划，包括生物学，运动机能学，再生医学，数学，工程和科学教育。将受到重大影响的项目包括：角膜组织伤口愈合和再生;使用分子和数学工具研究细胞和生物体水平对蛋白质错误折叠的反应（许多神经退行性疾病的组成部分）在线虫;甲壳类动物发育过程中的基因组重组;哺乳动物的应激和摄食行为之间的关系;以及内分泌信号在蛇性信号产生控制中的作用。新的仪器还将影响JMU的运动学和工程部门的研究，以及邻近的机构，如布里奇沃特学院，东门诺派大学和马里恩杜邦马医疗中心。

An award is made to James Madison University (JMU) to fund the acquisition of an automated, fluorescence microscope system for dynamic, live-specimen imaging to advance research and education at JMU and in the surrounding region in Virginia. This instrumentation will expand the scope of research in multiple departments at JMU and in neighboring institutions by enabling faculty and students to study the dynamics of molecules, cells, and tissues. JMU and most of its neighboring colleges are primarily undergraduate institutions and are committed to engaging students in learning through faculty-mentored research. Indeed, students are responsible for over 95% of the total research use of our core microscopy facility. The new microscope system will provide these students with exposure to live imaging and multi-fluorescence technologies unavailable elsewhere in our region, and will expand the facility's ability to increase research opportunities for undergraduates. This instrumentation will also enhance formal upper-division courses such as Human Histology and Environmental Microbiology by providing students with practical training in light microscopy techniques. Moreover, in an effort to expand our impact on undergraduate research training, we will work with Bridgewater College's Biology Department (a neighboring, small liberal arts college) to provide access for their upper-division courses. Finally, this microscope system will support science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education in the northern Shenandoah Valley region by enhancing the JMU Biology Department's local elementary school outreach program. This program provides K-5 classes with the kinds of science enrichment experiences known to pique early interest in science (but often only accessible to select populations) to all students regardless of academic readiness, language and cultural barriers, and socioeconomic status. This state-of-the-art instrument will be integrated into 5th grade learning modules focusing on the components and dynamic nature of cells.The new fluorescence microscope system will open new investigative avenues for researchers at JMU and in the region by enabling the study of dynamic processes at multiple levels of biological organization-from molecular assemblies to entire organisms-and by accommodating multi-fluorescent-label imaging with a broader diversity of fluorescent probes. It will advance the research and training programs of at least 16 faculty members from three institutions and multiple STEM fields including biology, kinesiology, regenerative medicine, mathematics, engineering and science education. Projects that will be substantially impacted include: cornea tissue wound healing and regeneration; using molecular and mathematical tools to investigate cell- and organism-level responses to protein mis-folding (a component of many neurodegenerative diseases) in nematodes; genome reorganization during crustacean development; the relationship between stress and feeding behavior in mammals; and the role of endocrine signaling in the control of sexual signal production in snakes. The new instrumentation will also impact research in JMU's Kinesiology and Engineering departments, among others, as well as at neighboring institutions such as Bridgewater College, Eastern Mennonite University and the Marion DuPont Equine Medical Center.