MRI: Acquisition of an integrated Zeiss 980 microscope with Airyscan 2 and FCS to advance multidisciplinary research, inclusive teaching, and outreach at Amherst College

阿默斯特学院获得了一项奖项，用于支持购买专门的光学显微镜，该显微镜能够提供小至 120 nm（大约与 SARS-CoV-2 病毒大小）的细胞特征可视化的分辨率，并能够分析活细胞中单分子的运动。该仪器将把学院目前无法实现的研究范围扩大到令人兴奋的新领域。此外，新的多功能成像系统将成为最近开放的综合科学中心的新成像设施的旗舰仪器。获得的显微镜将成为向当地学院和大学社区所有科学研究领域的研究人员开放的共享资源。通过新的成像设施，该仪器将为学生提供高端成像系统的实践经验，并将极大地扩展现有的预科和夏季研究计划的范围，这些计划旨在招募、培训和留住校园中代表性不足的 STEM 学生。购买这款独特的多功能光学显微镜不仅将使该机构的成像能力现代化，还将影响跨学科的课堂教学，包括生物学、生物化学、生物物理学和神经科学。将与贝内斯基自然历史博物馆合作，创建一个由学生策划的图像和视频展览，通过名为“运动中的分子”（MiM）的倡议来探讨艺术与科学的交叉点。这将促进学院科学家和学生的科学发展，并提高最广泛受众的工作知名度，同时提高人们对 STEM 显着发展的认识，以可视化活细胞中分子的内部运作。新型快速、多功能、高分辨率显微镜将改变研究人员研究分子间相互作用和细胞过程的能力。它将满足各种研究项目日益增长的需求，从海葵和线虫动态信号转导和发育过程的高分辨率研究到神经元和斑马鱼超快细胞和有机体反应的研究。该仪器的光刺激能力将有助于研究盘基网柄菌听觉功能的神经编码和对环境刺激的运动反应。了解单分子动力学将使化学之间围绕生物成像定制荧光标记的应用以及锌失调对体外和神经元中淀粉样蛋白的影响的研究之间进行跨学科合作。这款新型显微镜将增强研究人员的能力，利用他们在研究、推广和培训方面的独特优势，将有影响力的科学发现与对社会产生深远而持久的影响联系起来。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。

An award is made to Amherst College to support the acquisition of a specialized light microscope that provides the resolution to visualize features in cells as small as 120 nm, approximately the size of a SARS-CoV-2 virus, and the ability to analyze the movement of single molecules in living cells. The instrument will expand the scope of research, currently not possible at the College, into exciting new areas. Additionally, the new multifunctional imaging system will be the flagship instrument of a new imaging facility in the recently opened integrated Science Center. The acquired microscope will become a shared resource open to investigators from all areas of scientific research across the community of local colleges and universities. Through the new imaging facility, this instrument will provide hands-on experience for students on a high-end imaging system and will greatly expand the offerings of established pre-matriculation and summer research initiatives aimed at recruiting, training, and retaining underrepresented STEM students on campus. The acquisition of this unique, multifunctional light microscope will not only modernize the institution’s imaging capabilities but will impact classroom offerings across disciplines, including biology, biochemistry, biophysics, and neuroscience. Working in partnership with the Beneski Museum of Natural History, a student-curated exhibit of images and videos will be created, speaking to the intersection of art and science through an initiative entitled “Molecules in Motion” (MiM). This will promote the science of the College’s scientists and students and increase the visibility of the work to the broadest audience while creating awareness of the remarkable developments in STEM to visualize the inner workings of molecules in living cells.The new fast, multifunctional, high-resolution microscope will transform researchers’ abilities to investigate intermolecular interactions and cellular processes. It will meet the growing demands of a variety of research programs ranging from high resolution studies of dynamic signal transduction and developmental processes in sea anemone and C. elegans to investigations of ultrafast cellular and organismal responses in neurons and zebrafish. The instrument’s capabilities to stimulate with light will enable studies of neural encoding of auditory function and motile responses to environmental stimuli in Dictyostellium. Access to single molecule dynamics will enable cross-disciplinary collaborations between chemistry around the application of custom fluorescent labels for biological imaging and investigations into the consequences of zinc dysregulation on amyloid protein in vitro and in neurons. This new microscope will amplify the researchers’ abilities to leverage their unique strengths in research, outreach, and training to bridge impactful scientific discoveries to a profound and enduring impact on the community.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.