MRI: Acquisition of a multi-modal laser scanning confocal microscope to integrate research and teaching across spatial, evolutionary and ecological scales at WWU

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An award is made to Western Washington University (WWU) to purchase a microscope for high resolution quantitative analysis of biological specimens. The acquisition will facilitate interdisciplinary curriculum development, summer research programs for undergraduates, and STEM pipeline building between WWU and K-12 students in the Skagit Valley. Curricular developments will be focused on Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) that will enable ~64 undergraduate students annually to conduct quantitative fluorescence microscopy research on biological specimens through the Biology, Chemistry, Behavioral Neuroscience departments and the Shannon Point Marine Science Center (SPMC). Datasets generated through CUREs will be developed into teaching tools for lecture courses, which will expose an additional ~400 students annually to quantitative microscopy data. Summer research programs will focus on training a diverse cohort of ~16 students annually to employ time-resolved fluorescence microscopy on specimens ranging in scale from individual proteins to multi-cellular organisms. The acquisition will expose traditionally underserved K-12 students to cutting edge quantitative microscopy through the Compass2Campus program. Collectively, this instrument will become a central resource for quantitative STEM training for the entire Skagit Valley.The scientific premise for this acquisition is focused on advancing 11 research programs from three academic departments (Biology, Chemistry, and Behavioral Neuroscience) and one national marine science center (SPMC). These research programs work on diverse biological problems that include: organelle assembly, plant development, cell signaling, marine larval development, neural synapse formation, endosymbiosis, protein biophysics, protein trafficking, DNA damage, gene expression, neural development, and aging. These research emphases span size scales that range from single molecules to multi-cellular organisms. These research emphases incorporate evolutionarily distant organisms that include protists, fungus, plants, insects and animals. The results of the scientific projects facilitated by this acquisition 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.