Immunological Techniques in the Undergraduate Laboratory

通过该项目获得的设备正被用于扩大向本科生教授的各种免疫学方法。具体目标是：(1)将检测纳入实验室，以研究正在进行的免疫活动；(2)在组织和细胞上定位和定量抗原。使用的具体方法有：免疫细胞化学、放射免疫测定、胚发生测定、白细胞介素产生、western blots和51-铬释放测定。几个主要的设备对这个项目至关重要：低温恒温器，细胞收割机，二氧化碳培养箱，伽马计数器，无菌工作台，-75度冷冻机和离心机。由于引入的方法涵盖了几个学科，使用该设备的具体实验室实验涉及各种课程，将在未来五年内影响约1,250名学生。作为该计划的一部分，这些练习将提高这些本科生在生物学重要新领域的整体经验的复杂性，使他们对免疫反应和使用免疫学技术检测分子变化有更深入的了解。这一领域在过去二十年中呈指数级增长。在临床和实验中，新的分析方法已经可以定位和定量以前未知的分子。受资助机构将从非联邦来源获得等额的NSF奖励。

Equipment secured through this project is being used to expand the variety of immunological methods taught to undergraduates. Specific goals are (1) to incorporate assays into laboratory sessions to study ongoing immunological activity; and (2) to localize and quantitate antigens in tissues and on cells. Specific methods used are: immunocytochemistry, radioimmunoassay, blastogenesis assays, interleukin production, western blots, and 51-chromium release assays. Several major pieces of equipment are crucial to this program: a cryostat, cell harvester, CO2 incubator, gamma counter, sterile benches, -75 degree freezer, and a centrifuge. Because the methods being introduced encompass several disciplines, specific laboratory experiments using this equipment involve a variety of courses that will affect approximately 1,250 students over the next five years. The exercises developed as part of this program will enhance the sophistication of the overall experience available to these undergraduates in an important new area of biology, providing them with a deeper understanding of the immune response and of the uses of immunological techniques to detect molecular change. This area has grown exponentially in the last two decades. Both clinically and experimentally, new assays have made it possible to localize and quantitate molecules heretofore unknown. The grantee institution is matching the NSF award with an equal sum obtained from non-Federal sources.