Acquisition of a Confocal Microscope for New Research and Teaching

卫斯理大学被授予一个奖项，以支持购买一台共焦显微镜，供多个系和学科的教职员工和学生使用。新仪器将大大改善培训环境，并在卫斯理教员教授的许多高度互动的实验室课程中使用，以促进STEM的职业发展。拟议的显微镜将被安置在一个先进的成像设备中，其中包括扫描和透射式电子显微镜。为了支持向公众传播科学，卫斯理教员撰写的大量文章在大众媒体上发表就是例证，新系统产生的数据将用于外联演讲、科学夏令营、当地高中、年度科学成像学生奖和类似论坛。卫斯理拥有异常广泛的研究课题组合，将从新系统中受益，包括形态的进化和发展、基于光遗传的行为控制、细胞生物学、生理学、发育神经科学和染色体动力学。在显微镜技术进步的推动下，这些领域中的每一个都在经历对空间关系的研究扩大，而且人们意识到，研究人员必须研究三维形状以及这些形状如何随着时间的推移而变化，以了解生物系统的结构和功能。其中几个研究项目之所以可能，只是因为该系统在当地可用。这些研究的数据和分析将发表在同行评议的科学期刊上，在科学会议上提交，并用于教育和公共宣传活动。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 Wesleyan University to support the acquisition of a confocal microscope for use by faculty and students across multiple departments and disciplines. The new instrument will profoundly enhance the training environment and be used during many highly interactive laboratory courses taught by Wesleyan faculty to promote STEM career advancement. The proposed microscope will be housed in an advanced imaging facility that includes scanning and transmission electron microscopes. To support dissemination of science to the general public, as exemplified by the large number of articles authored by Wesleyan faculty that are printed in the popular media, data generated by the new system will be used in outreach presentations, science camps, local high-schools, an annual scientific imaging student prize, and similar forums. Wesleyan boasts an unusually broad portfolio of research topics that will benefit from the new system, including evolution and development of morphology, optogenetic-based control of behavior, cell biology, physiology, developmental neuroscience, and chromosomal dynamics. Each of these areas is experiencing an expansion of research into spatial relationships, driven by advances in microscopy, and by the realization that researchers must study three-dimensional shapes and how those change over time to understand the structure and function of biological systems. Several of the research projects will only be possible because the local availability of the system. 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.