MRI: Acquisition of a Fully-Motorized Research Microscope at Fairfield University Project Description

费尔菲尔德大学获得了一项奖金，用于资助一种自动研究显微镜。该仪器可用于需要详细观察亚细胞结构、实时成像和厚组织三维重建的项目。这些复杂的成像技术将被纳入费尔菲尔德大学理科本科专业的生物实验室课程。此外，与教师一起进行独立研究的科学专业学生将有机会接触到最先进的技术，这些技术既可以增强他们的研究能力，又可以作为重要的培训工具。费尔菲尔德大学（Fairfield University）长期致力于通过“大本营”（BASE Camp）项目促进来自服务欠缺社区的高中生的科学教育。“大本营”是一个将高中女生带到费尔菲尔德大学校园进行暑期研究体验的项目。大本营的学生也将在他们的研究项目中使用这台显微镜。对于所有年龄段的学生来说，捕捉其他不可见对象的详细图像的能力都是令人敬畏的，并且增加了研究经验对教育和对科学态度的影响。费尔菲尔德校区的大量研究将受益于这台仪器。它将用于研究白色念珠菌（一种致病真菌）如何构建生物膜，并将使研究人员能够可视化对破坏生物膜的药物的实时反应。此外，它将用于观察亚细胞定位工程酶的荧光激活。该显微镜是一种多功能仪器，能够捕捉大型复杂器官的三维图像，例如活的秀丽隐杆线虫的性腺。研究人员将利用秀丽隐杆线虫的性腺来研究微管马达的调节如何影响复杂组织的结构。该显微镜还将用于研究人类细胞。例如，在一项研究中，用户将检查脂质筏分布如何响应饮食干预在体外外周血单个核细胞。在另一项研究中，研究人员将监测人类癌细胞系对潜在抗癌药物的反应。这些研究跨越了遗传学、发育学、生物化学、新陈代谢、微生物学和癌症生物学等领域，并将带来令人兴奋的发现和新的研究轨迹。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

An award is made to Fairfield University to fund an automated research microscope. This instrument enables projects that require detailed observations of subcellular structures, real-time imaging, and three-dimensional reconstructions of thick tissues. These sophisticated imaging techniques will be incorporated into the biology lab coursework for undergraduate science majors at Fairfield University. In addition science majors that do independent research with faculty will have access to state-of-the-art technology that both empowers their research and serves as a crucial training tool. Fairfield University has a long-standing commitment to promote science education for high school students from underserved communities through BASE Camp, a program that brings high school girls to the Fairfield University campus for summer research experiences. BASE camp students will also use this microscope in their research projects. The ability to capture detailed images of otherwise invisible subjects is awe-inspiring to students of all ages, and increases the impact of research experience on education and on attitudes toward science.A staggering breadth of research on the Fairfield campus will benefit from this instrument. It will be used to study how Candida albicans, a pathogenic fungus, constructs a biofilm and will enable researchers to visualize real-time responses to agents that disrupt biofilms. In addition it will be used to observe the subcellular localization of engineered enzymes that fluoresce upon activation. The microscope is a versatile instrument that is capable of capturing three-dimensional images of large complex organs such as the gonad in live C. elegans nematode worms. Researchers will use the C. elegans gonad to study how the regulation of microtubule motors impacts architecture of an intricate tissue. The microscope will also be used to study human cells. For example in one study users will examine how lipid raft distribution responds to dietary intervention in ex vivo peripheral blood mononuclear cells. In a different study, researchers will monitor a human cancer cell line's response to potential anti-cancer agents. These inquiries traverse the fields of genetics, development, biochemistry, metabolism, microbiology, and cancer biology, and will lead to exciting discoveries and new research trajectories.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.