MRI:Acquisition of a multifunctional imager for research, undergraduate training, and curricular applications

授予诺克斯学院获得Bio-Rad V3 WW ChemiDoc MP成像仪包。 该成像仪将有助于生物化学，生物学和神经科学的研究活动和本科教育，允许加速凝胶电泳和转移以及Western印迹的荧光检测，以及支持蛋白质和核酸凝胶可视化的多种方法。ChemiDoc MP将为本科生研究和课程应用做出重大贡献，从而增强诺克斯的学生研究培训。 将该仪器纳入生物化学，生物学和神经科学的课程和实验室活动中，每年将使大约140名学生受益。 该仪器将允许采用更环保的技术，并将改进数据采集和分析，由于该仪器支持的技术的广泛应用，ChemiDoc MP成像仪将有助于一些实验室的研究。 对乙醇降低免疫防御机制的研究将使用成像仪来研究炎症反应早期发生的信号转导事件的变化，以更好地了解急性乙醇暴露如何损害对致病病原体的防御。该仪器还将用于研究神经系统发育过程中intersectin在大分子细胞运输中的作用，从而更好地了解早期发育中的关键事件。另一项研究计划使用成像仪促进的分子生物学技术来创建更强大的基于蛋白质的水凝胶生物聚合物，其在组织工程和药物递送设计中具有重要用途。一个实验室将可视化核酸凝胶作为其探索的小RNA的多样性的一部分，表达在dictyostelid社会变形虫作为一种方式，实现更好地了解这些重要的基因表达调控因子的进化历史。该成像仪还将用于通过研究女性激素雌激素在药物依赖性发展中的作用来解决药物成瘾发展中的性别差异的研究。 这些计划将涉及五名研究人员和大约20名本科生每年在独立的研究计划。

An award is made to Knox College to acquire a Bio-Rad V3 WW ChemiDoc MP imager package. The imager will contribute to research activities and undergraduate education in Biochemistry, Biology, and Neuroscience, permitting accelerated gel electrophoresis and transfer and fluorescence detection for Western blotting, as well as supporting multiple methods for visualization of protein and nucleic acid gels. The ChemiDoc MP will contribute significantly to undergraduate research and curricular applications, thus enhancing student research training at Knox. Incorporation of the instrument into coursework and laboratory activities in Biochemistry, Biology, and Neuroscience will benefit approximately 140 students per year. The instrument will allow for adoption of more environmentally-friendly techniques and will improve data acquisition and analysis.Because of the broad application of the techniques supported by this instrument, the ChemiDoc MP imager will contribute to research in a number of laboratories. Research into the mechanisms by which ethanol decreases the immune defense will use the imager to study changes in signal transduction events occurring early in the inflammatory response to better understand how acute ethanol exposure impairs defense against illness-producing pathogens. The instrument will also be used for research addressing the role of intersectin in cellular transport of macromolecules during the development of the nervous system, with implications for better understanding crucial events in early development. Another research program uses molecular biology techniques facilitated by the imager to create a more robust protein-based hydrogel biopolymer, which has important uses in tissue engineering and drug delivery design. One laboratory will visualize nucleic acid gels as part of its exploration of the diversity of small RNAs expressed in dictyostelid social amoebas as a way of achieving better understanding of the evolutionary history of these important regulators of gene expression. The imager will also be used in research that addresses gender differences in the development of drug addiction by studying the role of the female hormone estrogen in the development of drug dependence. These programs combined will involve five investigators and approximately 20 undergraduate students annually in independent research initiatives.