MRI: Acquisition of a Confocal Microscope for Student-Faculty Research and Research Training

奥伯林学院获得了一项奖励，以支持购买共聚焦显微镜，供奥伯林生物系、化学与生物化学系和神经科学系以及该地区其他机构的教师使用。共聚焦系统将通过指导研究和扩展基于课程的研究来推进本科培养。增强的易用性和所要求的共聚焦将极大地扩展Oberlin的能力，支持学生在个人指导的研究和课程产品中使用，而更高的扫描速度，更高的灵敏度和环境控制的增加将增强数据收集。因此，奥伯林的科学教育将通过提高单个教师研究项目的活动和生产力而得到加强。获得最新的仪器对学生从事科学研究的职业生涯至关重要，奥柏林学院的教师将把新的共聚焦系统纳入四个高级研究性实验课程，以及特别强调扩大代表性不足的学生群体参与的指导研究。现代共聚焦显微镜系统提高了研究人员可以获得的数据的类型和质量，并扩大了教师可以承担的研究问题的范围。奥柏林大学的研究人员将利用该系统通过分析植物器官起始和间隔的机制、秀丽隐杆线虫中质子介导的细胞-细胞信号事件的调节、有袋动物的胚胎形成、对细胞内细菌病原体的免疫反应以及一系列神经科学主题，来深入了解发育和生化过程。这些研究的数据和分析将发表在同行评议的科学期刊上，在科学会议上提出，并用于教育和公共宣传活动。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识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 Oberlin College to support the acquisition of a confocal microscope for use by faculty from Oberlin's Biology, Chemistry & Biochemistry, and Neuroscience Departments and by faculty at other institutions in the region. The confocal system will advance undergraduate training through mentored research and expansion of course-based research. The increased ease of use and robustness of the requested confocal will greatly expand Oberlin's ability to support student use in individually mentored research and in curricular offerings, while the higher scan speed, greater sensitivity, and addition of environmental control will enhance data collection. Science education at Oberlin will therefore be enhanced by the improved activity and productivity of individual faculty research programs. Access to up-to-date instrumentation is essential to prepare students for careers in scientific research, and Oberlin College faculty will incorporate the new confocal system into four upper-level investigative laboratory courses as well as mentored research where broadening participation of under-represented student groups is particularly emphasized. Modern confocal microscopy systems improve the types and quality of data that researchers can obtain and expand the range of research questions faculty can undertake. Oberlin researchers will use the system to gain deeper insight into developmental and biochemical processes through analysis of the mechanisms leading to organ initiation and spacing in plants, regulation of a proton mediated cell-cell signaling event in C. elegans, embryo formation in marsupials, immune responses to intracellular bacterial pathogens, and a range of neuroscience topics. Data and analyses from these studies will be published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, presented at scientific meetings, and used in both educational and public outreach activities.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.