Acquisition of a New Transmission Electron Microscope, CCD Camera and Ultramicrotome for a Core Electron Microscopy Facility

该奖项用于购买一台透射电子显微镜、一台用于图像采集的专用数码相机和一台用于新墨西哥州立大学多用户电子显微镜实验室的室温超微显微镜。这套新仪器将大大改善校园内的研究和学生培训，并将由来自文理学院、农业与家政学学院和工程学院的15名研究人员组成的小组使用。这个研究小组包括有良好的研究项目的高级研究员，以及将从他们的职业发展中受益匪浅的初级教员。下列研究项目将利用获得的仪器：(1)拟南芥中植物与病毒的相互作用；(2)动物细菌共生的进化生态学；(3)旋转组织培养系统中丙型肝炎核衣壳样颗粒的组装和肝细胞形态的研究；(4)万古霉素和房屋清洁剂对耐房屋清洁剂的金黄色葡萄球菌突变体细胞壁形态的影响；(5)器官发生过程中机械感觉毛细胞分化的研究。其他项目包括原生沙漠植物共生真菌的结构研究、贾第鞭毛虫的膜脂内吞作用、燃料电池技术、矿山尾矿修复、植物中病毒复制过程和储存蛋白体的亚细胞定位、致病性真菌斑点孢与甜菜和红花的相互作用、土传病原体与新墨西哥州南部重要经济作物的相互作用、研究了放线菌素和微管细胞骨架对动物细胞有丝分裂和细胞分裂的调节作用，以及环境、昆虫和除草剂胁迫对作物和杂草生产力的影响。新获得的仪器将提供给来自校园其他部门的所有潜在用户，它们将为实验室强大的教学使命和当地社区外展活动提供宝贵的资源。

This award is for the purchase of a transmission electron microscope, a dedicated digital camera for image acquisition and a room temperature ultramicrotome for the multi-user Electron Microscopy Laboratory at New Mexico State University. These new set of instruments will significantly improve the research and student training on campus and will be used by a group of fifteen investigators from colleges of Arts and Sciences, Agriculture and Home Economics, and Engineering. This research group includes senior investigators with well established research projects as well as junior faculty members who will benefit enormously from the instruments for their career development. The following research projects will make use of the acquired instruments: (1) plant-virus interaction in Arabidopsis thaliana, (2) evolutionary ecology of animal bacterial mutualisms, (3) investigation of assembly of Hepatitis C nucleocapsid-like particles and morphology of hepatocytes cultured on a rotary tissue culture system, (4) effect of vancomycin and house cleaners on cell wall morphology of house-cleaner tolerant Staphylococcus aureus mutants, (5) study of mechanosensory hair cell differentiation during organogenesis. Other projects include structural study of symbiotic fungi in native desert plants, membrane lipid endocytosis by Giardia lamblia, fuel cell technology, mine tailing remediation, subcellular localization of viral replication processes and storage protein bodies in plants, interaction of pathogenic fungus Cercospora beticola with sugar beet and safflower, interaction of soil-borne pathogens with economically important crops in Southern New Mexico, immunolocalization of various Zein proteins in alfalfa, investigation of regulation of the actinomysin and microtubule cytoskeletons for proper coordination of mitosis and cytokinesis in animal cells, and influence of environmental, insect, and herbicide stresses on crop and weed productivity. The newly acquired instruments will be made available to all potential users from various other departments across campus and they will be invaluable for the lab's strong teaching mission and local community outreach activities.