MRI: Acquisition of an integrated Confocal and TIRF fluorescence microscope for multidisciplinary research and teaching at Barnard College

巴纳德学院获奖购买多功能荧光显微镜。作为一所女子文理学院，巴纳德致力于培养下一代女科学家。为了实现这一目标，理科专业的学生通常在高水平的实验室课程之外，还要在研究实验室工作几年。在这两个环境中，技术先进的仪器设备，如与该奖项一起购买的显微镜，为学生提供了重要的动手培训。在将使用显微镜的本科生女性中，有一些是巴纳德大学科学途径学者项目的学生。这项计划嵌入了学院的研究使命，并为来自科学界传统上代表性较低的群体的学生提供财政支持和培训机会。显微镜具有对细胞和组织成像以及观察单个生物分子活动的专门能力。这项仪器收购将有利于巴纳德公司三个部门的研究。生物学的一个小组将使用显微镜跟踪老鼠发育过程中的特定细胞及其后代。另一个生物学小组将研究蜜蜂的肠道，以了解寄生虫是如何在这种对环境重要的昆虫上定居的。神经科学的两个教授将观察与昼夜节律以及恐惧和焦虑相关的大脑结构。在化学系，研究小组将使用显微镜研究与遗传性耳聋相关的蛋白质，以及在铅暴露的神经毒性中发挥作用的蛋白质。尖端显微镜将对巴纳德大学的研究和本科生科学教育产生积极影响。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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 Barnard College to purchase a multi-functional fluorescence microscope. As a liberal arts college for women, Barnard is committed to training the next generation of female scientists. Toward this goal, science majors often spend several years working in a research lab in addition to their upper-level laboratory coursework. In both of these settings, technologically advanced instrumentation, like the microscope purchased with this award, provide important hands-on training for students. Among the undergraduate women who will use the microscope are students in the Science Pathways Scholars Program at Barnard. This program is embedded in the college's research mission and provides financial support and training opportunities to students from groups that are traditionally underrepresented in the sciences.The microscope has specialized capabilities for imaging cells and tissues and for observing single biological molecules in action. This instrument acquisition will benefit research in three departments at Barnard. One group in biology will use the microscope to track specific cells and their offspring during mouse development. Another biology group will look at honeybee guts to understand how parasites colonize this environmentally-important insect. Two faculty from neuroscience will observe brain structures that are related to circadian rhythms and to fear and anxiety. In the chemistry department, research groups will use the microscope to study proteins that are associated with hereditary deafness as well as a protein that has a role in the neurotoxicity of lead exposure. Cutting-edge microscopy will positively impact research and undergraduate science education at Barnard.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.