MRI: Acquisition of a fluorescence microscope to grow research and training at St. Catherine University

圣凯瑟琳大学是一所主要的本科院校，获得了一台Leica DM6B荧光显微镜。该显微镜将扩大该大学生物系的研究能力，并将使该大学女子学院的学生参加生物科学的研究培训。圣凯瑟琳是明尼苏达州四年制公立和私立大学中种族和经济最多样化的学生之一。荧光显微镜将通过提供现代显微镜、成像技术和图像分析的机会和培训，帮助各种背景的女大学生在研究生院和科学事业中取得成功。显微镜使扩大的研究能力成为可能，这也将有助于招募优秀和多样化的教师，同时帮助现有教师进行研究。该仪器的使用将促进大学生物系教师之间、生物系教师与更广泛的STEM学科教师之间以及与其他大学现有研究合作者之间的新合作。解卷积DIC荧光显微镜将扩大四个生物系的研究计划，涵盖生态学、发育生物学、遗传学、细胞和分子生物学以及遗传学等领域。一个研究氮和磷如何塑造和控制蓝藻和藻类组合的结构和功能的项目将有助于更好地预测淡水生态系统对环境压力的反应。对秀丽隐杆线虫二型性状发育的探索将为研究Hox基因在神经元发育中的作用提供新的思路。模型地钱中铵转运蛋白的时间或空间亚功能化的表征将阐明生物体结构域之间基因转移的进化后果。异染色质的荧光探针的选择性染色将允许检测染色质结构的差异，可能会影响生理学，基因表达，和生态生物学的二倍体相比，非模式无脊椎动物，蚯蚓的多倍体人口。该显微镜不仅能满足生物系当前的需求，还能在未来进行项目扩展。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

An award is made to St. Catherine University, a primarily undergraduate institution, to acquire a Leica DM6B fluorescence microscope. This microscope will expand the research capacity of biology faculty at the university and will engage students from the university's College for Women in research training in the biological sciences. St. Catherine has among the most ethnically and economically diverse population of students enrolled in Minnesota's four-year public and private colleges. The fluorescence microscope will help prepare women undergraduates of all backgrounds to succeed in graduate school and scientific careers by providing access to and training in modern microscopy, imaging techniques and image analysis. The expanded research capacity made possible by the microscope will also contribute to efforts to recruit excellent and diverse faculty while aiding current faculty to conduct research. Access to this instrumentation will stimulate new collaborations among faculty within the university's Biology Department, between biology faculty and those in broader STEM disciplines, and with existing research collaborators at other universities.The deconvolution DIC fluorescence microscope will expand research programs spanning the areas of ecology, developmental biology, genetics, cell and molecular biology, and phylogenetics for four biology faculty. A project investigating how nitrogen and phosphorus shape and control the structure and function of cyanobacterial and algal assemblages will contribute to the ability to better predict changes to freshwater ecosystems in response to environmental stressors. The exploration of the development of dimorphic traits in Caenorhabditis elegans will provide insights on the role Hox genes in neuronal development. The characterization of the temporal or spatial subfunctionalization of ammonium transporters in the model liverwort Marchantia polymorpha will elucidate the evolutionary consequences of gene transfer between domains of living organisms. Selective staining of heterochromatin with fluorescent probes will allow detection of differences in chromatin structure that might impact the physiology, gene expression, and ecobiology of diploid compared to polyploid populations of the non-model invertebrate, Lumbriculus. Not only will this microscope meet the current needs of the biology department, it will also allow for programmatic expansion in the future.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.