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励，以支持获得一种专门的光学显微镜，该显微镜提供的分辨率可以使小至120 nm的细胞中的特征可视化，大约是SARS-CoV-2病毒的大小，并且能够分析活细胞中单个分子的运动。该工具将扩大研究范围，目前不可能在学院，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新成像设施的旗舰仪器。收购的显微镜将成为一个共享资源，开放给来自当地学院和大学社区的所有科学研究领域的研究人员。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，并将大大扩展既定的预科和夏季研究计划的产品，旨在招募，培训和保留校园中代表性不足的STEM学生。这种独特的多功能光学显微镜的收购不仅将使该机构的成像能力现代化，而且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。与自然历史的Beneski博物馆合作，将创建一个学生策划的图像和视频展览，通过题为“运动中的分子”（MiM）的倡议，讲述艺术和科学的交叉点。这将促进学院的科学家和学生的科学，并增加工作的可见性，以最广泛的观众，同时创造了STEM的显着发展的认识，可视化活细胞中分子的内部运作。新的快速，多功能，高分辨率显微镜将改变研究人员的能力，研究分子间的相互作用和细胞过程。它将满足各种研究计划日益增长的需求，包括海葵和C。在神经元和斑马鱼中的超快细胞和有机体反应的研究。该仪器的能力，刺激与光将使研究的神经编码的听觉功能和运动反应的环境刺激在网柱藻。获得单分子动力学将使化学之间的跨学科合作围绕应用自定义荧光标记的生物成像和调查锌失调对淀粉样蛋白在体外和神经元的后果。这个新的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区的深远和持久影响联系起来。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得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来支持。

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.