Acquisition of Equipment for Nucleic Acid and Protein Analysis

征集将成为我们不断扩大的分子生物学/生物技术和环境生物学计划的组成部分的三个项目。这些物品是自动DNA测序仪、DNA合成器和无胶片放射自显影系统。这些用于合成DNA以及分析和量化核酸和蛋白质的工具将扩大许多领域的研究能力。由12个研究实验室组成的核心将直接受益于购买这种设备。这一核心包括来自该部门分子生物学/生物技术和环境生物学方案的成员。该部门的一个主要优先事项是在这些不同的研究兴趣之间建立合作。很明显，整合这些程序的关键是分子分析。分子生物学家经常需要核酸序列数据来描述基因和验证结构。此外，这些研究人员必须精确量化mRNA和蛋白质水平以研究基因调控，并且必须合成寡核苷酸来操纵特定的DNA序列。我们还有一个不断扩大的环境生物学项目，该项目在保护和种群生物学方面具有优势。这个项目的研究人员越来越依赖分子技术提供的力量和分辨率。种群生物学家遇到的问题是，这些研究通常需要大量的样本和广泛的标记阵列，这限制了费力和昂贵的分子技术的广泛使用。拟议的设备将由本部分子生物学/生物技术部门和环境生物学部门共同使用。这些设备将成为促进协作和综合研究工作的协调中心。这些项目的范围从基因调控的基础研究到种群动力学和保护遗传学的研究。收购将提高这些项目的效率，所有项目都将得到扩大和加强。该仪器还将对我们的环境生物学、生物技术和分子生物学研究培训能力产生重大影响。

Three items that would become components of our expanding molecular biology/biotechnology and environmental biology programs are solicited. These items are an automated DNA sequencer, a DNA synthesizer and a filmless autoradiography system. These tools for the synthesis of DNA and the analysis and quantitation of nucleic acids and proteins will extend research capabilities in numerous areas. A core of 12 research laboratories would directly benefit from the acquisition of this equipment. This core includes members from both the molecular biology/ biotechnology and the environmental biology programs in the department. A major Departmental priority has been to forge collaborations among these diverse research interests. It has become clear that the key to integrating these programs is molecular analysis. The molecular biologists routinely require nucleic acid sequence data for characterizing genes and verifying constructs. In addition these researchers must precisely quantify mRNA and protein levels to investigate gene regulation, and must synthesize oligonucleotides to manipulate specific DNA sequences. We also have an expanding environmental biology program that has strengths in conservation and population biology. The investigators of this program are relying increasingly on the power and resolution offered by molecular techniques. The problem encountered by population biologists is that the large sample sizes and extensive array of markers often required for these studies have restricted the wide scale use of laborious and expensive molecular techniques. The proposed equipment would be used jointly by both the molecular biology/ biotechnology and the environmental biology segments of our department. The equipment would serve as a focal point to foster collaborative and integrative research efforts. These projects range from basic research on gene regulation to studies of population dynamics and conservation genetics. The efficiency of these projects would be increased and all would be expanded and strengthened by the acquisition. The instrumentation would also have a significant impact on our environmental biology, biotechnology and molecular biology research training capabilities.