MRI: Acquisition of a Confocal Microscopy System for Biological and Bioengineering Research

授予圣路易斯大学购买激光扫描共聚焦显微镜(LSCM)，以扩大设在弗罗斯特校区的基础科学系的研究和教育能力。受影响最大的系包括生物、化学、心理学、生物医学和土木工程。该仪器还满足了哈里斯·斯托州立大学数学和自然科学系的LSCM需求。该仪器的影响不仅限于研究实验室，还用于通过在研究实验室和课堂上对博士后研究员、研究生和本科生进行荧光显微镜培训，为我们未来的STEM工作人员做好准备。该仪器增加了许多当地高中生的研究经验，他们通过涉及我们许多校园研究人员的各种科学学徒计划获得了LSCM的经验。该项目还支持一项旨在激励当地中学生在STEM领域追求职业生涯的倡议。该仪器用于各种重要研究领域，包括研究氧供应变化的心脏功能、神经元突触形成的基本机制、眼睛发育以及培养细胞生长的新材料。它正被用来开发独特的荧光化合物，许多科学家可以用来研究基本的细胞功能。其他生物学家和生物工程师使用该仪器研究水处理中的细菌，以及细胞信号、基因表达和组织再生的基本机制。这些研究项目的结果将在同行评议的出版物和科学会议上传播。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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 Saint Louis University to acquire a laser scanning confocal microscope (LSCM) to expand the research and educational capabilities of the basic science departments located on the Frost Campus. The most highly impacted departments include Biology, Chemistry, Psychology, and Biomedical and Civil Engineering. The instrument also services the LSCM needs of the Department of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at Harris Stowe State University. This instrument has impacts beyond the research laboratory and is used to prepare our future STEM workforce through the training of postdoctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students in fluorescence microscopy, both in research labs and in classrooms. The instrument augments the research experiences of many local high school students, who gain experience with LSCM through various science apprenticeship programs that involve many of our campus researchers. The project also supports an initiative directed at inspiring local middle school students to pursue careers in STEM fields.The instrument is used in a variety of important research areas, including in studies of cardiac function with varying oxygen availability, the basic mechanisms of neuronal synapse formation, eye development, and of novel materials for growing cells in culture. It is being used to develop unique fluorescent compounds that can be used by many scientists to study basic cellular functions. Other biologists and bioengineers use the instrument to study bacteria in water treatment, and the basic mechanisms of cell signaling, gene expression, and tissue regeneration. The results of these research projects will be disseminated in peer-reviewed publications and at scientific meetings.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.