MRI: Acquisition of an Integrated Atomic Force and Fluorescence Microscope to Enhance Undergraduate Research at Wellesley College

韦尔斯利学院被授予购买原子力显微镜和荧光显微镜的奖励，以增强本科生微生物学家、生物化学家、细胞生物学家、分析化学家和材料科学家的教育和研究经验。卫尔斯理学院是一所面向女性的本科学院，其使命是“为将改变世界的女性提供优秀的文科教育”。作为一所文理学院，卫尔斯理专注于教育一群不同文化背景的年轻女性，让他们成为善于表达、批判性和全面发展的思想家和公民。大约三分之一的学生主修科学学科，他们参与了丰富的、以探究为基础的实验室课程，并与教师一起进行独立研究。在实验室经验的鼓舞下，他们中的许多人继续在STEM领域工作。在美国国家科学基金会的最新调查中，卫尔斯理在所有文科院校中数学和科学博士的培养数量排名第一。S在2008年至2012年间共培养了199名博士。除了通过研究支持本科教育外，该工具还将鼓励生物和物理科学家之间以及韦尔斯利和奥林学院社区之间的合作，因为他们结合他们的学科经验来研究新问题或以新的视角看待顽固的旧问题。这种研究级的集成AFM-荧光显微镜将使学生和教职员工能够灵敏地测量几个研究领域中非常微小的动态过程。Núñez实验室(化学)、Klepac-Ceraj实验室(生物科学)和Huang实验室(奥林工程学院)将探索来自不同系统的细菌群落的结构和动态，包括捕食性土壤细菌、口腔生物膜和绿色光合作用淡水细菌。达林实验室(生物科学)的学生将研究心肌细胞之间的蛋白质相互作用。弗林实验室(化学)的年轻研究人员将在纳米尺度上确定金属纳米颗粒薄膜的时间动力学。戈斯实验室(生物科学)将研究分裂酵母S.pombe的胞吐作用。此外，生物、化学、物理和神经科学专业的本科生将在他们的课程中使用该仪器来发现荧光和扫描探针显微镜的实用性和局限性，他们将在奥林学院的材料科学专业中测量聚合物、光学元件和合金的纳米级特征和物理性质。

An award is made to Wellesley College for the acquisition of an atomic force microscope integrated with a fluorescence microscope to enhance the educational and research experience of undergraduate microbiologists, biochemists, cell biologists, analytical chemists, and materials scientists. Wellesley College is an undergraduate college for women whose mission is "to provide an excellent liberal arts education for women who will make a difference in the world." As a liberal arts college, Wellesley focuses on educating a culturally diverse group of young women to be articulate, critical, and well-rounded thinkers and citizens. Roughly a third of students major in a scientific discipline, where they are involved in a rich, inquiry-based laboratory curriculum and independent research with faculty. Encouraged by their laboratory experience, many of them go on to careers in STEM fields. In the most recent NSF survey, Wellesley ranked first among all liberal arts colleges in generating female Ph.D.'s in math and science between 2008 and 2012 (199 Ph.D.s). In addition to supporting undergraduate education through research, this instrument will encourage collaboration between biological and physical scientists and between the Wellesley and Olin College communities, as they combine their disciplinary experience to investigate new questions or to take a new look at stubborn old questions. This research-grade integrated AFM-fluorescence microscope will enable students and faculty to sensitively measure very small and dynamic processes in several research areas. The Núñez lab (Chemistry), Klepac-Ceraj lab (Biological Sciences), and Huang lab (Olin College of Engineering) will explore the structure and dynamics of bacterial communities from diverse systems including predatory soil bacteria, oral biofilms, and green photosynthetic freshwater bacteria. Students in the Darling lab (Biological Sciences) will examine protein-protein interactions between cardiac cells. Young investigators in the Flynn lab (Chemistry) will determine the temporal dynamics of metal nanoparticle films at the nanometer scale. The Goss lab (Biological Sciences) will study exocytosis by the fission yeast S. pombe. Furthermore, undergraduate biology, chemistry, physics, and neuroscience students will use this instrument to discover the utility and limitations of fluorescence and scanning probe microscopies in their coursework, and they will measure nanoscale features and physical properties of polymers, optical components, and alloys in Olin College's materials science program.