Cell Culture Facilities for Organismal and Integrative Biology

国家科学基金会要求提供相应的资金，以建立一个细胞/组织培养设施，供芝加哥大学组织生物学和解剖学系的教员研究人员和实习生使用。在过去的十年里，该系在将分子生物学技术应用于生物生物学问题以及培训学生学习方面进行了重要的研究。值得注意的是，细胞/组织培养技术没有出现在这些发展中。大楼中缺乏适当的设施，阻碍了部门研究人员分析培养细胞中的基因表达和进行生理研究。使用校园内其他地方的设施需要在恶劣天气下远距离运输培养中的细胞/组织，这与拟议的研究不相容。因此，正在寻求资金来购置现场设施。拟议的研究应用包括：(1)检测热休克蛋白HSP70的可能分子伴侣活性；(2)在水蚤模型中研究与分化相关的基因表达；(3)在自然模型中阐明对温度敏感的转录调控(鱼类基团的LDH-B基因座)；(4)研究水流动对脊椎虫干细胞分化的影响，并建立一个实验模型以优化生物系统中的液体流动；(5)在脑外植体模型中研究学习的神经基础。拟议的设施不仅将允许这些项目的实施，而且还将作为一个跳板，教育所有部门人员关于细胞/组织培养的效用、前景和实践。为此，督导主任会定期举办工作坊，参加者包括部门人员和本地中学教师。

Matching funds are requested from the National Science Foundation to set up a cell/tissue culture facility for use by faculty investigators and trainees in the Department of Organismal Biology and Anatomy of The University of Chicago. During the past decade, this department has made major studies in applying the techniques of molecular biology to problems of organismal biology, and in training students to do likewise. Conspicuous by their absence from these developments have been cell/tissue culture techniques. Absence of suitable facilities in the building prevents departmental researchers from analyzing gene expression in cultured cells and performing physiological investigations. Use of facilities elsewhere on campus necessitates transport of cells/tissues in culture over long distances and outside in inclement weather, which is incompatible with the proposed research. Accordingly, funds are sought to acquire facilities on site. Proposed research applications include (1) examination of possible molecular chaperone activity of a heat shock protein, hsp70; (2) study of gene expression associated with differentiation in a leech model; (3) elucidation of temperature-sensitive regulation of transcription in a natural model (the Ldh-B locus of the fish Fundulus); (4) investigation of effects of aqueous flow regime on stem cell differentiation in demosponges and development of an experimental model for optimizing fluid flow in biological systems; (5) examination of neural bases of learning in a brain explant model. The proposed facility would not only permit these projects to be carried out, but also serve as a springboard for educating all departmental personnel about the utility, promise, and practice of cell/tissue culture. To this end, the PIs would conduct regular workshops whose participant would include departmental personnel and local secondary school instructors.