MRI: Acquisition of an iMIC Digital Microscope for Research and Research Training at Indiana University of Pennsylvania

TILL iMIC Andromeda是一款精密的多用途共聚焦显微镜，专门用于活体样本成像。通过NSF MRI奖，宾夕法尼亚大学（IUP）的印第安纳州收购了iMIC仙女座开发一个国家的最先进的显微镜设施，有利于IUP内的几个部门的研究和研究培训？自然科学和数学学院（CNSM）。更具体地说，iMIC的获得加强了目前对可塑性和细胞信号传导的研究重点。研究人员可以解决有关在几个生理事件中发生的结构和功能重塑的基本生物学和生物化学问题，包括正常发育途径，代谢过程，生物节律的产生和酵母中的液泡形成。此外，IUP研究人员正在以创新的方式使用iMIC来测量新型光学材料的荧光和吸收光谱，以进一步实现增强电信和传感器应用的目标。总体而言，该设施增强的成像能力允许对多个生物、生物化学和物理项目进行深入分析，以及启动需要高度发达的荧光显微镜的其他研究项目。iMIC扩展了CNSM的研究能力，并具有被各种科学学科的大量学生和大学教授使用的独特优势。除了为教师提供机会，以扩大他们的研究曲目，iMIC增强内部和校际教师和学生之间的合作研究工作。该iMIC还影响科学教育在IUP的进步，包括本科和研究生CNSM学生。地区高中学生通过旨在加强STEM培训的研讨会和外展计划与iMIC互动。这有望成为一个重要的招聘工具，因为大约75%的IUP学生来自宾夕法尼亚州农村，并没有接触到最先进的显微镜，如iMIC仙女座。重要的是，研究生，本科生和中学生能够设计研究项目，涉及先进的显微镜技术下IUP教师的精心指导？这些经验将使他们为生物学职业做好更好的准备。因此，iMIC正在扩大可以提供的技术范围，以向CNSM学生介绍快速发展的显微成像领域，该领域已经改变了基础科学和应用科学的范式。

The TILL iMIC Andromeda is a sophisticated and multipurpose confocal microscope specially adapted to the imaging of living samples. Through the NSF MRI award, Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) acquired the iMIC Andromeda to develop a state-of-the art microscope facility benefiting the research and research training of several departments within IUP?s College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics (CNSM). More specifically, the acquisition of the iMIC strengthens a current research emphasis on plasticity and cell-signaling. Researchers can address basic biological and biochemical questions about the structural and functional remodeling that occurs in several physiological events, including normal development pathways, metabolic processes, the generation of biological rhythms and vacuole formation in yeast. Additionally, IUP researchers are using the iMIC in an innovative way to measure fluorescence and the absorptive spectra of novel optical materials to further the goal of enhancing telecommunications and sensor applications. Overall, the augmented imaging capabilities of this facility allow for in-depth analyses of several biological, biochemical and physics projects, as well as the initiation of additional research projects for which highly developed fluorescent microscopy is required.The iMIC expands CNSM research capabilities and has the inimitable advantage of being used by a significant number of students and university professors in a variety of scientific disciplines. In addition to providing faculty members with opportunities to broaden their research repertoire, the iMIC enhances intra- and interuniversity collaborative research efforts between faculty and students. The iMIC also impacts the advancement of science education at IUP, including undergraduate and graduate CNSM students. Regional high school students interact with the iMIC through workshops and outreach programs designed to enhance STEM training. This promises to be a significant recruiting tool as approximately 75% of IUP students are from rural Pennsylvania and have not been exposed to state-of-the-art microscopes like the iMIC Andromeda. Importantly, graduate, undergraduate and secondary students are able to design research projects involving advanced microscopy techniques under the careful mentorship of IUP faculty?experiences that will better prepare them for careers in biology. Thus, the iMIC is expanding the range of techniques that can be offered to introduce CNSM students to the rapidly advancing field of microscopic imaging that has changed the paradigm for basic and applied sciences.