Plant growth chambers to support a new Phytotron Core Research Facility

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This proposal requests funds to purchase three plant growth chambers that will support a new Phytotron Core Research facility at University of Lethbridge. The new growth chambers would contribute to replacement of obsolete equipment, and reduce a major limitation encountered by researchers, lack of plant growth facilities that can maintain fine control of temperature and light intensity that is required for many experiments, but not possible to attain in a greenhouse or growth room environment. The chambers are required for daily use on our university campus. The seven co-applicants are core members of the Department of Biological Sciences whose research spans a breadth of topics and goals, including crop improvement and food security, discovery and development of medically-important plant secondary compounds, control of plant development, fundamental processes in ecology and evolutionary biology, and the conservation and recovery of rare plants. The team members and research programs are of the highest quality, and the team has the expertise and research funds to effectively operate the requested equipment. The use of the plant growth chambers would be managed effectively within the Phytotron Core Research Facility, with day-to-day operations coordinated by an Instructor within the Biology Department. This Phytotron Core Research facility will have full access to technical support from the U of L Facilities Department, as well as local contractors with expertise in maintenance and repair of the chambers requested. The chambers would be available and accessible to all researchers (cost-recovery basis) requiring plant growth facilities on our campus. The requested equipment is fundamentally important to our training of highly qualified personnel. The Department of Biological Sciences has recently had several important successes in initiating and developing outstanding new training programs for graduate and undergraduate students, including a novel Research Internship Concentration within our BSc degree program. Our students are in demand for co-op programs and full-time employment in industry and government, and many proceed to further advanced studies and professional programs.