Acquisition of a Multi-user Seagoing Cell Sorting Laboratory

PI建议获得一个多用户、海上细胞分选实验室，以支持海洋微生物学领域的研究、培训和教育。现在分子生物学、海洋微生物生态学和流式细胞术技术的快速发展使这种海上细胞分选实验室成为一个特别合适的时机。将建造一个专门设计的集装箱实验室，用于船上使用，以容纳高速细胞分选仪器，以及辅助支持设备。该实验室将用于1)鉴定和分离用于培养的新微生物，2)在单细胞水平上匹配海洋中微生物的身份和活性，以及3)开发使用细胞分选器作为微采样器的新方法和应用。更广泛的影响：拟议的设施有可能影响和被来自不同机构的各种用户使用。在毕格罗实验室的浮游植物培养课程以及新英格兰大学、鲍登学院、贝茨学院和科尔比学院的本科生实习生使用仪器的建议中，有很强的培训和教育元素。海上高速分选流式细胞仪设备的可用性将为海洋微生物生态学研究提供非常重要的仪器。

The PI proposes to acquire a multi-user, seagoing cell sorting laboratory to support research, training, and education in the field of marine microbiology. Rapid advances now occurring in molecular biology, marine microbial ecology, and flow cytometric technology make this an especially opportune time for such an at-sea cell sorting laboratory. A specially designed container laboratory for ship-board use will be built to house the high-speed cell sorter instrument, along with ancillary support equipment. The laboratory will be used to 1) identify and isolate new microbes for cultivation, 2) match the identity and activity of microorganisms in the ocean at the single cell level, and 3) develop new approaches and applications using a cell sorter as a micro-sampler. Broader Impacts:The proposed facility has potential to impact and be used by a variety of users from at different institutions. There is a strong training and education element to the proposed use of the instrumentation which includes the Phytoplankton Culture course at Bigelow Laboratory and the proposed availability of the instrumentation to undergraduate student interns from the University of New England as well as Bowdoin, Bates, and Colby Colleges. The availability of a sea-going high-speed sorting flow cytometry facility would provide a very important advancement in the instrumentation available for conducting studies in marine microbial ecology at sea.