Acquistion of a Laser Confocal Microscope for an Integrated Microscopy Facility at Union College

博士们已获得一笔赠款。Quynh ju - lagraff, Barbara Boyer, Barbara Danowski， Stephen Horton和Robert Lauzon在联合学院获得了一台共聚焦显微镜，作为翻新的综合显微镜设施的核心。该仪器将大大增强和扩大五个学院的研究能力，这些学院的研究兴趣包括细胞运动、无脊椎动物发育和进化、遗传发育、程序性细胞死亡和分子神经科学。此外，共聚焦技术作为一种创新工具，将整合到课堂实验训练和个别学生与教师的项目中，以丰富本科生的研究经验。在生物系内，目前有许多项目代表了细胞、遗传学、分子和发育方法对生物科学的整合。具体而言，研究包括利用果蝇和小鼠模型系统来更好地了解人类神经系统疾病，原始生物中分割的进化，中心体在迁移培养细胞中的重新定位的作用，蘑菇发育的遗传和分子机制，以及对殖民海鞘Botryllus schlosseri细胞程序性死亡的基本了解。该仪器代表了一项重要的投资，以保持和提高学术研究的卓越性，无论是对教师的研究和本科研究人员的培训。它还将促进联合学院更积极和富有成效的教师和学生的研究互动，而无需在其他地方获得共聚焦显微镜。

A grant has been awarded to Drs. Quynh Chu-LaGraff, Barbara Boyer, Barbara Danowski, Stephen Horton, and Robert Lauzon at Union College to acquire a confocal microscope to be the centerpiece for a renovated Integrated Microscope facility. This instrument would substantially enhance and expand the research capabilities of five faculty with interests ranging from cellular motility, invertebrate development and evolution, genetic development, programmed cell death, to molecular neuroscience. Moreover, confocal technology as an innovative tool will be integrated into classroom laboratory training and individual student-faculty projects to enrich the research experience of undergraduates. Within the Biology Department, there are currently numerous projects that represent the integration of cellular, genetics, molecular, and developmental approach to biological science. Specifically, research include using fly and mouse model systems to better understand human neurological diseases, evolution of segmentation in primitive organisms, the role of centrosome reorientation in migrating cultured cells, genetic and molecular mechanisms governing mushroom development, and basic understanding of programmed cell death in colonial sea squirt Botryllus schlosseri. The instrument represents a critical investment to maintain and enhance academic research excellence both for faculty research and for the training of undergraduate researchers. It will also facilitate more active and productive faculty and student research interactions at Union College by bypassing the need to gain access to a confocal microscope elsewhere.