MRI/RUI-Acquisition of a Confocal Microscope for Multiple Users at UNCG

在Esther Leise博士的指导下，北卡罗来纳大学格林斯伯勒分校(UNG)获得了一笔赠款，用于购买一台共焦显微镜，作为一个多用户设施的焦点，该设施将由UNG生物系容纳和管理。共焦显微镜是荧光显微镜的一种增强形式，它依靠激光照明和计算机成像来消除散焦和散射光，从而为用户提供前所未有的细节清晰度和信息提取能力，这是传统荧光显微镜无法复制的。该仪器将是联合国儿童基金会和大格林斯伯勒大都市区的第一台共聚焦显微镜，使联合国儿童基金会的研究人员能够每天使用共聚焦显微镜，并定期培训学生使用这种最先进的显微镜方法。这一共焦显微镜设备的主要用户包括莱斯博士和来自生物学和营养学系的另外6名主要研究人员。所有主要用户都有活跃的研究计划，需要共焦显微镜来最大限度地提高数据收集效率，并获得目前用现有大学显微镜设施无法提取的数据。所有主要用户的研究计划还包括本科生和研究生研究助理，因此每个实验室的学生将接受共焦显微镜的使用指导，并将有充分的机会在获取和分析共焦数据方面获得实践经验。主要使用者的研究项目从分子到生物体都有，但都包含了对基本生物学问题的调查。研究人员将使用共聚焦显微镜和广泛的模型系统和生物来研究生物发育过程中基因表达和蛋白质定位的变化模式，分析培养细胞中亚细胞蛋白质运输和分布的动力学，并了解更多关于有毒微生物的生命周期和地理分布。将共焦显微镜纳入细胞生物学实验室和遗传学实验室课程，每年将使大约250名本科生，包括相当数量的女性和少数族裔学生接触到这种先进的显微镜仪器的用处。共焦显微镜设施将改善联合国开发计划署正在进行的研究计划，并将加强该机构的教学任务。共焦设施还将通过促进至少两个系的学生和教职员工之间的跨学科合作，影响到校园生命科学系更广泛的使命。共焦显微镜设施还将把联合国开发计划署的活动与格林斯博罗地区以技术为导向的当地企业联系起来。联合国教科文组织学生的校园研究和教育体验质量的提高将促进新的皮埃蒙特三合会生物技术计划，并使联合国教科文组织的学生在生物技术领域以及生命和生物医学科学领域的职业生涯中更具竞争力。

A grant has been awarded to the University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG) under the direction of Dr. Esther Leise for the purchase of a confocal microscope as the focal point of a multi-user facility to be housed in and managed by the UNCG Department of Biology. Confocal microscopy is an enhanced form of fluorescence light microscopy that depends upon laser illumination and computerized image formation to eliminate out-of-focus and scattered light, thereby providing the user with unprecedented clarity of detail and information extraction capabilities that are impossible to replicate by traditional fluorescence microscopy. This instrument will be the first confocal microscope at UNCG and in the greater Greensboro metropolitan area and will allow researchers at UNCG to use confocal microscopy on a daily basis and to routinely train students in the use of this state-of-the-art microscopical method. The major users of this confocal microscope facility include Dr. Leise and 6 additional principal investigators from the Departments of Biology and Nutrition. All of the major users have active research programs that require confocal microscopy to maximize their data collection efficiency and to obtain data that is currently impossible to extract with existing university microscopy facilities. The research programs of all of the major users also involve undergraduate and graduate student research assistants, so students from each laboratory will be instructed in the use of the confocal microscope and will have ample opportunity to obtain hands-on experience in obtaining and analyzing confocal data. The research projects of the major users range from the molecular to the organismal, but all incorporate investigations into basic biological questions. Researchers will use confocal microscopy together with a broad range of model systems and organisms to study the changing patterns of gene expression and protein localization that occur during organismal development, to analyze the dynamics of subcellular protein trafficking and distribution in cultured cells, and to learn more about life cycles and geographic distributions of toxic microorganisms. Incorporation of confocal microscopy into Cell Biology Laboratory and Genetics Laboratory courses will expose some 250 undergraduates, including significant numbers of women and minority students, per year to the usefulness of this advanced microscopical instrument. The confocal microscope facility will improve ongoing research programs at UNCG and will enhance the teaching mission of that institution as well. The confocal facility will also affect the broader missions of campus life science departments by promoting interdisciplinary collaborations between students and faculty in at least 2 departments. The confocal microscope facility will also link activities at UNCG to local technologically-oriented businesses in the Greensboro area. The improved quality of campus research and educational experiences for UNCG students will promote the new Piedmont Triad biotechnology initiative as well as make UNCG students more competitive for careers in the fields of biotechnology and in the life and biomedical sciences.