MRI: Acquisition of a Lumick's SuperC-TRAP correlative optical tweezers and Fluorescence Microscope (CTFM) system

东北大学（NEU）与来自新英格兰生物实验室（NEB）、布里奇沃特州立大学和韦尔斯利学院的参与者一起获得了一项奖励，以购买Lumicks SuperC-TRAP相关光镊和荧光显微镜（CTFM），用于单分子研究，以在分子水平上操纵和观察生物相互作用。使用该仪器的项目将在参与者的实验室中引入不同的研究人员，包括NEU和NEB的本科合作研究人员，以尖端的跨学科科学。部分由于来自韦尔斯利学院和布里奇沃特州立大学的主要用户的参与，来自服务不足社区的妇女和研究人员将获得新的研究经验。CTFM仪器将被纳入NEU的两个主要本科课程，学生将有机会使用CTFM仪器并设计和测试DNA相互作用马达蛋白的突变。每年两次的研讨会将由Lumicks举办，并由Northeastern主办，旨在吸引和培训区域用户，该仪器将被广泛宣传。CTFM仪器将允许用户以亚皮牛顿的分辨率测量和施加张力到单个生物分子上，并在这些测量过程中真实的检测单个荧光标记分子的存在、数量和位置。这允许用户推或拉生物系统，并通过使用荧光标记观察系统对力的反应。同时，当系统响应这些输入时，用户可以通过测量力或延伸变化来“感觉”系统对这些输入的反应。重要的是，这些观察揭示了在非常小的长度尺度上的相互作用，揭示了单个蛋白质与底物相互作用的活性。该仪器将使跨学科科学前沿的创新项目成为可能，包括研究细胞DNA复制和DNA损伤修复如何发生，逆转录病毒如何复制其基因组以及DNA如何在细胞中包装（和可以解包装）的项目。对胶原蛋白的研究将探索力如何影响组织修复，而对聚合物动力学的研究将使用力来观察和指导蛋白质组装。这些研究的结果将允许在单分子水平上观察实时生物动力学，为所探测的生物系统的功能提供重要的新见解。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来支持。

An award is made to Northeastern University (NEU), with participants from New England Biolabs (NEB), Bridgewater State University, and Wellesley College, to purchase a Lumicks SuperC-TRAP correlative optical tweezers and fluorescence microscope (CTFM) for single-molecule research to manipulate and observe biological interactions at the molecular level. The projects using this instrument will introduce a diverse group of researchers in the laboratories of the participants, including undergraduate co-op researchers at NEU and NEB, to cutting edge interdisciplinary science. Due in part to the participation of major users from Wellesley College and Bridgewater State University, women and researchers from underserved communities will gain access to new research experiences. The CTFM instrument will be incorporated into two major undergraduate courses at NEU, in which students will have the opportunity to use the CTFM instrument and to design and test mutations on DNA-interacting motor proteins. Biannual workshops to attract and train regional users will be run by Lumicks and hosted by Northeastern, and the instrument will be advertised widely.The CTFM instrument will allow users to measure and apply tension to single biomolecules with sub-picoNewton resolution, and to detect the presence, number, and position of individual fluorescently labeled molecules during these measurements in real time. This allows users to push or pull on biological systems and observe the reaction of the systems to force by using fluorescent labels. Simultaneously, the users can "feel" the reaction of the systems to these inputs through measurements of force or extension changes as the system responds to these inputs. Importantly, these observations reveal interactions at very small length scales, revealing activities of single proteins interacting with a substrate. Innovative projects at the forefront of interdisciplinary science will be enabled by this instrument, including projects to study how cellular DNA replication and repair of DNA damage occurs, how retroviruses copy their genomes, and how DNA is packaged (and can be unpackaged) in cells. Studies on collagen will probe how force affects tissue repair, while studies on polymer dynamics will use force to observe and direct protein assembly. The results of these studies will allow observation of real-time biological dynamics at the single molecule level, providing significant new insights into the functions of the biological systems probed.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.