Micro-and Nano-space Explorations of Health and Disease

描述（由申请人提供）：看不见的世界，包括生物和非生物，在微观和纳米尺度上对健康和疾病具有极其重要的意义，只有通过适当的显微镜工具才能看到细节。在这个项目中，南缅因大学（USM）的教师和工作人员在电子显微镜，微生物学，病毒学和免疫学方面的专业知识，与小学和中学教育和外展专家和USM的Southworth天文馆的工作人员合作，向3-8年级的学生和K-12教师揭示巨大但通常看不见的微空间/纳米空间世界，并最终将这些世界带给缅因州和全国的学生。从宏观和多感官观察开始，项目工作人员（在第一阶段）将利用USM显微镜资源，包括PI指导的USM病毒学和TEM实验室中具有先进断层扫描能力的新型Tecnai BioTwin全数字透射电子显微镜（TEM），提高项目参与者的视觉感知能力超过五个数量级。该项目的第一阶段（第一至第三年）将强调生物医学科学教职员工、K-12学生和USM Southworth天文馆员工在课程材料和视觉资源制作方面的合作，以实现深远的教育推广。该项目的第二阶段将侧重于课程和其他项目产品的传播，同时扩大在缅因州的推广工作，并将K-12教师学年计划整合到应用医学科学系的学术课程中。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The unseen world, both living and non-living, at the micro-scale and the nano-scale has inordinate importance for health and disease and is only made visible in detail through the appropriate tools of microscopy. In this project University of Southern Maine (USM) faculty and staff with expertise in electron microscopy, microbiology, virology, and immunology team up with elementary and middle school education and outreach specialists and the staff of USM's Southworth Planetarium to reveal vast but usually invisible micro-space/nano-space worlds to grades 3-8 students and K-12 teachers and ultimately to bring these worlds to students across Maine and the nation. Starting with macroscopic and multi-sensory observations, the project staff (during Phase I) will enhance visual perception of program participants by more than five orders of magnitude using USM microscopy resources including a new Tecnai BioTwin fully digital transmission electron microscope (TEM) with advanced tomography capabilities in the USM Virology and TEM Laboratory which the PI directs. Phase I of the project (years 1 to 3) will emphasize collaboration of biomedical sciences faculty and staff, K-12 participants, and the staff of USM's Southworth Planetarium on curriculum materials and production of visual resources for far-reaching educational outreach. Phase II of the project will focus on dissemination of curricula and other products of the project while expanding outreach efforts throughout Maine and integrating the academic year programs for K-12 teachers into the academic offerings of the Department of Applied Medical Sciences.