MRI: Acquisition of a laser scanning confocal microscope with enhanced resolution, sensitivity, and speed to serve as a regional resource for research and education

MRI：购买具有增强分辨率、灵敏度和速度的激光扫描共焦显微镜，作为区域研究和教育资源

• 批准号: 2214633
• 负责人: Kristopher Kubow
• 金额: $ 73.04万
• 依托单位: James Madison University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-10-01 至 2025-09-30
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2214633&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; Acquisition; laser; scanning; confocal

An award is made to James Madison University (JMU) to fund the acquisition of an advanced light microscope system with enhanced resolution, sensitivity, and speed to serve as a regional resource for research and education. The instrumentation will expand the scope of research and education in multiple departments at JMU, in neighboring institutions, and in the surrounding community by enabling faculty and students to study microscopic biological and physical processes at spatiotemporal resolutions exceeding those offered by conventional light microscopes. JMU and its neighboring colleges are primarily undergraduate institutions and are committed to engaging students in learning through faculty-mentored research. Indeed, students are responsible for approximately 90% of the total research use of the core microscopy facility. In doing so, they not only conduct original research, but also become competent microscopists. The funded microscope system will become a key component of the core facility and will enhance student research training by exposing them to advanced imaging technologies. This instrumentation will also benefit formal upper-division courses at JMU such as Developmental Neurobiology and Biophysical Chemistry by providing students with practical and theoretical education in cutting-edge light microscopy techniques. Moreover, in an effort to expand the impact on undergraduate research training, the investigators will develop a scientific image data management training module, focusing on best-practices that promote rigor and reproducibility in scientific research. The module materials and outcomes will be disseminated to inform scientific data management training in other sub-disciplines of science and at other institutions. Finally, the microscope system will support general science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education in the surrounding northern Shenandoah Valley region through outreach to neighboring high schools and colleges. A new outreach module incorporating hands-on classroom activities and a remote demonstration of the new microscope will be developed to teach students the concept of size at the micro-scale and will be offered through JMU’s STEM outreach center.The funded microscope system will open new investigative avenues for researchers at JMU and in the region by enabling the study of biological and physical processes across broad spatiotemporal scales. While it is useful to study processes within one size regime, it is also essential to study how phenomena are integrated across spatiotemporal scales, e.g., from cells to tissues, molecules to sub-cellular organization, rapid/brief events to slow/long-lived behaviors. The funded microscope will enable the study of how small-scale events and patterns combine to determine larger-scale properties and will, in particular, enable the visualization of very small features and fast processes that are beyond the sensitivity of conventional light microscopes. It will advance the research programs of at least 16 faculty across multiple STEM fields including biology, physics, biochemistry, and science education. Projects that will be particularly impacted include studies of: formation and refining of neuronal connections during development; cell migration; materials that convert between liquid and solid phases depending on physical confinement during flow; how neurons in the eye regulate non-image-forming behaviors; bacterial biofilm structure and development; and cartilage tissue patterning during development.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.

詹姆斯麦迪逊大学（JMU）获得了一个奖项，用于资助收购一个先进的光学显微镜系统，该系统具有更高的分辨率、灵敏度和速度，可作为研究和教育的区域资源。该仪器将扩大研究和教育的范围在多个部门在JMU，在邻近的机构，并在周围的社区，使教师和学生研究微观生物和物理过程的时空分辨率超过传统的光学显微镜提供。JMU及其邻近的学院主要是本科院校，并致力于通过教师指导的研究让学生参与学习。事实上，学生负责约90%的核心显微镜设施的总研究使用。在这样做的过程中，他们不仅进行原创性研究，而且成为称职的显微镜学家。受资助的显微镜系统将成为核心设施的关键组成部分，并将通过让学生接触先进的成像技术来加强学生的研究培训。这种仪器也将有利于在JMU正式的高年级课程，如发育神经生物学和生物物理化学，为学生提供尖端的光学显微镜技术的实践和理论教育。此外，为了扩大对本科生研究培训的影响，研究人员将开发一个科学图像数据管理培训模块，重点是促进科学研究严谨性和可重复性的最佳实践。将传播该单元的材料和成果，以便为其他科学分支学科和其他机构的科学数据管理培训提供信息。最后，显微镜系统将通过推广到邻近的高中和大学，支持周围北方谢南多厄河谷地区的普通科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）教育。将开发一个新的外展模块，包括动手课堂活动和新显微镜的远程演示，以教授学生微观尺度的尺寸概念，并将通过JMU的STEM外展中心提供。资助的显微镜系统将为JMU和该地区的研究人员开辟新的研究途径，使他们能够在广泛的时空尺度上研究生物和物理过程。虽然在一个尺度范围内研究过程是有用的，但研究现象如何在时空尺度上整合也是至关重要的，例如，从细胞到组织，从分子到亚细胞组织，从快速/短暂的事件到缓慢/长期的行为。资助的显微镜将能够研究小规模事件和模式如何结合联合收割机来确定更大规模的特性，特别是能够可视化非常小的特征和快速的过程，这些特征和过程超出了传统光学显微镜的灵敏度。它将推进至少16名教师在多个STEM领域的研究计划，包括生物学，物理学，生物化学和科学教育。特别受影响的项目包括：发育过程中神经元连接的形成和完善;细胞迁移;在流动过程中根据物理限制在液相和固相之间转换的材料;眼睛中的神经元如何调节非图像形成行为;细菌生物膜结构和发育;该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查进行评估，被认为值得支持的搜索.