MRI: Acquisition of a Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope for Research and Instruction at a Primarily Undergraduate Institution

MRI：购买激光扫描共焦显微镜用于主要本科机构的研究和教学

• 批准号: 1920069
• 负责人: Ajay Srivastava
• 金额: $ 37.73万
• 依托单位: Western Kentucky University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-10-01 至 2022-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1920069&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; Acquisition; Laser; Scanning; Confocal

An award is made to Western Kentucky University for the acquisition of a Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope for research and instruction at a primarily undergraduate institution. The microscope will build imaging capacity at WKU and in the Southern Kentucky region. It will not only impact the research projects of several faculty members who train Graduate (Masters) and Undergraduate students in their laboratories but also enhance the student learning and research experience. The students will present their findings at the local Student Research Conference and at regional and national meetings. They will also disseminate their findings in the form of refereed publications. The exposure of students to this routine yet state-of-the-art technique and the dissemination of acquired data will benefit their research careers by making them competitive for graduate programs. An existing undergraduate Developmental Genetics, Cell Biology and Microscopy course will incorporate this technique and expose students to this state-of-the-art imaging. Additional courses at graduate and undergraduate level will develop modules for this technique as well. To engage and attract young scientists into choosing careers in the sciences, we will offer teachers and students from local high schools opportunities to visit the facility and learn firsthand the power of confocal microscopy. Additionally, rising high school junior and senior students from the Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science at WKU will also benefit from the availability and technical capabilities of this microscope as several of these students conduct research in the laboratories of the PIs who spearhead a variety of research projects. The microscope will be made available to other regional academic institutions on a fees per use basis and will be advertised at the regional conference organized by the Kentucky Academy of Science. Furthermore, professors and their students within the Kentucky Community and Technical College System will have opportunities to visit the facility for a demonstration of the Confocal Microscope and its capabilities. Confocal microscopy is routinely utilized by biologists to understand the localization of gene products (proteins and RNA) within a cell in space and time. It also provides valuable insights into the cellular and tissue architecture of developing living systems at resolutions far superior to conventional fluorescence microscopy. Acquisition of this state-of-the-art microscope will impact WKU faculty projects in diverse fields ranging from the Cell and Developmental Biology of fruit flies, Microbiology, Neurobiology of Zebrafish, Endocrinology, Plant Biology, Immunolocalization of proteins in Chlamydomonas to Nanotechnology. The confocal microscope will expand capability and capacity in the Southern Kentucky region and enable students to be part of high caliber research projects. Cellular localization of proteins, generation of high resolution cellular images and understanding mechanisms involved in normal development will all be possible with this microscope, thereby exposing students to sophisticated research.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.

授予西肯塔基州大学一个奖项，以获得一台激光扫描共聚焦显微镜，用于主要是本科院校的研究和教学。该显微镜将在WKU和南肯塔基州地区建立成像能力。它不仅会影响谁在他们的实验室培养研究生（硕士）和本科生的几个教师的研究项目，但也提高了学生的学习和研究经验。学生们将在当地的学生研究会议以及区域和国家会议上展示他们的研究结果。他们还将以参考出版物的形式传播其调查结果。学生接触到这种常规但最先进的技术和所获得的数据的传播将使他们的研究生课程的竞争力，有利于他们的研究生涯。现有的本科生发育遗传学，细胞生物学和显微镜课程将结合这种技术，并让学生接触到这种最先进的成像。研究生和本科生水平的其他课程也将开发这种技术的模块。为了吸引年轻科学家选择科学职业，我们将为当地高中的教师和学生提供参观该设施的机会，并直接了解共聚焦显微镜的力量。此外，从数学和科学的加顿学院在WKU上升高中初中和高年级学生也将受益于这种显微镜的可用性和技术能力，因为这些学生中的一些人在PI的实验室进行研究谁带头各种研究项目。该显微镜将提供给其他地区的学术机构，按使用收费，并将在肯塔基州科学院组织的地区会议上做广告。此外，教授和他们的学生在肯塔基州社区和技术学院系统将有机会参观该设施的共聚焦显微镜及其功能的演示。生物学家通常使用共聚焦显微镜来了解细胞内基因产物（蛋白质和RNA）在空间和时间上的定位。它还提供了有价值的见解发展中的生命系统的细胞和组织结构的分辨率远远优于传统的荧光显微镜上级。这种最先进的显微镜的收购将影响WKU教师在不同领域的项目，从果蝇的细胞和发育生物学，微生物学，斑马鱼的神经生物学，内分泌学，植物生物学，蛋白质的免疫定位在衣原体纳米技术。共聚焦显微镜将扩大在南肯塔基州地区的能力和容量，使学生成为高素质的研究项目的一部分。通过这台显微镜，蛋白质的细胞定位、高分辨率细胞图像的生成以及正常发育过程中的理解机制都将成为可能，从而使学生们能够进行复杂的研究。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并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，被认为值得支持。