Confocal Microscope System

描述（由申请人提供）：纽约市立大学亨特学院是一所少数民族服务机构，完全致力于研究和教学。我们的主要目标是扩大和改善亨特的研究基础设施。我们将继续致力于通过在亨特提供卓越和活跃的研究环境，为代表性不足的少数民族学生增加在生物医学研究领域追求科学事业的机会。我们的目标与国家普通医学研究所少数民族生物医学研究支持处少数民族研究机会部门所描述的目标一致。在这个申请中，我们建议更换我们现有生物成像设备中过时的仪器。我们迫切需要替换十年前从分子动力学公司获得的共聚焦显微镜，他们几年前退出了共聚焦业务。例如，零件不再可用，零件墓地正在迅速干涸。我们需要一台最先进的共聚焦显微镜（徕卡TCS SP2）。所引用的仪器的功能适合五个主要用户的需要，其中四个与中枢神经系统组织一起工作。生物学、行为学和生物物理学的研究人员也将利用这一仪器。共聚焦显微镜系统将被用于从神经系统损伤和修复到纳米技术材料应用的各种项目。一个复杂的共聚焦显微镜系统将使我们能够提高我们的生产力，为学院带来最先进的技术，并使我们的研究人员能够更有效地完成资助的研究项目和申请未来的资助。所要求的工具将产生以下结果：(1)增加在生物医学研究方面受过培训的少数民族和非少数民族的人数。(2)增加合作、出版和资助申请的数量。(3)增加年度同行评议论文数量。(4)改善亨特学院的研究氛围，促进新的研究项目的建立。这一改进最终将有助于聘用更多的研究人员。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Hunter College of CUNY is a minority serving institution, with a full commitment to research and teaching. Our major goal is to expand and improve the research infrastructure at Hunter. We will continue our commitment to increase the opportunities for under-represented minority students to pursue scientific careers in areas of biomedical research by providing and environment of excellence and active research at Hunter. Our goals are in accordance with those delineated by the Minority Opportunity for Research Division, Minority Biomedical Research Support Branch of the National Institute of General Medical Science. In this application we are proposing to replace an obsolete instrument in our current Bio-lmaging Facility. We are in urgent need to replace our confocal microscope obtained a decade ago from Molecular Dynamics who quit the confocal business a few years ago. For example, parts are no longer available and the parts graveyard is rapidly drying up. We are requesting a state-of-the-art confocal microscope (Leica TCS SP2). The capabilities of the instrument quoted are suited for the needs of the five major users, four of which work with central nervous system tissues. Investigators in the biological, behavioral and biophysical sciences will also make use of this instrument. The confocal microscope system will be utilized in projects ranging from damage and repair of the nervous system to materials applications in nanotechnology. A sophisticated confocal microscope system will allow us to enhance our productivity, bring state-of-the-art techniques to our College, and allow our research faculty to be more efficient in completing funded research projects and applying for future funding. The instrument requested will have these outcomes: (1) Increase the number of minority and non-minority trained in biomedical research. (2) Increase the number of collaborations, publications and grant applications. (3) Increase the annual number of peer reviewed papers. (4) Improve the research climate at Hunter College and facilitate the establishment of new research programs. This improvement will ultimately facilitate the hiring of more research faculty.