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

MRI：购买荧光显微镜，作为动态、活体标本成像研究和教育的区域资源

• 批准号: 1725855
• 负责人: Kristopher Kubow
• 金额: $ 21.66万
• 依托单位: James Madison University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-09-01 至 2020-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1725855&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; Acquisition; fluorescence; microscope; serve

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.

詹姆斯·麦迪逊大学（JMU）获得了一项奖励，以资助购置一套用于动态活体标本成像的自动化荧光显微镜系统，以推进JMU及其弗吉尼亚周边地区的研究和教育。通过使教师和学生能够研究分子、细胞和组织的动力学，该仪器将扩大JMU多个部门和邻近机构的研究范围。JMU及其邻近的大多数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在本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，增加本科生的研究机会。该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，如人体组织学和环境微生物学。此外，为了扩大我们对本科生研究训练的影响，我们将与布里奇沃特学院的生物系（一个邻近的小型文理学院）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生物系在当地小学的推广计划，支持谢南多阿北部地区的科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）教育。该项目为所有学生提供K-5班的科学丰富体验，以激发他们对科学的早期兴趣（但通常只对特定人群开放），无论他们的学术水平、语言和文化障碍以及社会经济地位如何。这种最先进的仪器将被整合到五年级的学习模块中，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，并通过更广泛的荧光探针适应多荧光标记成像。它将推进来自三个机构和多个STEM领域（包括生物学、运动学、再生医学、数学、工程和科学教育）的至少16名教职员工的研究和培训计划。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线虫对蛋白质错误折叠（许多神经退行性疾病的一个组成部分）的细胞和生物体水平反应；甲壳类动物发育过程中的基因组重组；哺乳动物应激与摄食行为的关系以及内分泌信号在蛇类性信号产生控制中的作用。新仪器还将影响JMU运动机修系和工程系的研究，以及邻近机构，如布里奇沃特学院、东门诺特大学和马里昂杜邦马医学中心。