A COPAS BIOSORT Flow Cytometer for Caenorhabditis elegans Molecular Genetics

描述（由申请人提供）：一组nih资助的研究人员建议购买COPAS BIOSORT流式细胞仪，以加强他们对广泛的生物医学问题的研究。秀丽隐杆线虫已经成为研究与人类健康、发育和疾病直接相关的生物学问题的主要遗传模型系统。明尼苏达大学的研究人员处于这一领域的前沿，他们管理着由美国国立卫生研究院（National Institutes of health）——国家研究资源中心（National Center for Research Resources）支持的隐杆线虫遗传中心。仪器和荧光蛋白研究的最新进展使秀丽隐杆线虫成为一个更强大的系统，用于正向或反向遗传学和药物发现的化学生物学。该应用程序旨在为明尼苏达大学的研究人员提供自动化仪器，以满足三个关键研究目标。首先，获得流式细胞仪将大大加快秀丽隐杆线虫高通量表型筛选、基因组分析和生物化学的步伐。该仪器将使研究人员能够首次使用遗传学、RNAi和化学生物学进行全自动筛选。其次，这种仪器将允许进行新的筛选，否则不会尝试。最后，该仪器将通过降低进入该领域的活化能，促进秀丽隐杆线虫群落成员与不同领域的当地研究人员之间的协作互动。自动化消除了大规模筛选中固有的关键瓶颈：(1)建立大量精确分级的线虫平行培养；(2)从一系列实验测试条件中评估多种生物学参数。过去需要数年才能完成的工作，现在可以在几天内完成，而且使用流式细胞仪灵敏度更高。COPAS BIOSORT流式细胞仪仅由美国Union Biometrica公司生产。COPAS BIOSORT已安装在世界各地的实验室中；然而，在明尼苏达州却没有这样的乐器。所要求的仪器是明尼苏达大学系统的研究人员需要的，以便他们能够继续在秀丽隐杆线虫研究中保持高水平的生产力，其应用旨在理解(1)通过细胞信号传导控制生殖系发育，(2)发育时间调节，(3)性别决定机制，以及(4)细胞粘附在肌肉和神经系统发育中的功能。11

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A group of NIH-funded investigators proposes to acquire a COPAS BIOSORT flow cytometer to enhance their research on a wide range of biomedical problems. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has emerged as a major genetic model system for studying biological problems with direct relevance to human health, development, and disease. Researchers at the University of Minnesota are at the forefront of this field, and have the distinction of administering the Caenorhabditis Genetics Center, which is supported by the National Institutes of Health-National Center for Research Resources. Recent advances in instrumentation and fluorescent protein research have made C. elegans an even more powerful system for forward or reverse genetics and chemical biology for drug discovery. This application seeks to provide automated instrumentation to meet three key research objectives for researchers at the University of Minnesota. First, acquisition of a flow cytometer will dramatically quicken the pace of high-throughput phenotypic screening, genomic analysis, and biochemistry using C. elegans. This instrumentation will enable researchers to conduct for the first time fully automated screens using genetics, RNAi, and chemical biology. Second, this instrumentation will allow novel screens to be undertaken that would not otherwise be attempted. Finally, this instrumentation will foster collaborative interactions between members of the C. elegans community and local researchers in diverse fields by lowering the activation energy for entering the field. Automation eliminates key bottlenecks inherent in large-scale screening by (1) establishing large numbers of parallel cultures of precisely staged nematodes and (2) assessing multiple biological parameters from an array of experimental test conditions. What once took years, can now be accomplished in days with enhanced sensitivity using the flow cytometer. The COPAS BIOSORT flow cytometer is manufactured only by Union Biometrica in the United States. The COPAS BIOSORT has been installed in laboratories throughout the world; however, there is no such instrument in Minnesota. The requested instrument is needed so that researchers in the University of Minnesota system can continue their high level of productivity in C. elegans research with applications aimed at understanding (1) the control of germline development by cell signaling, (2) the regulation of developmental timing, (3) the mechanisms of sex determination, and (4) the function of cell adhesion in muscle and nervous system development. 11