MRI: Acquisition of a Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope for Research and Instruction at a Primarily Undergraduate Institution

西肯塔基大学被授予购买激光扫描共聚焦显微镜的奖励，用于在一所主要是本科生的机构进行研究和教学。该显微镜将在西科他州大学和肯塔基州南部地区建立成像能力。它不仅会影响一些在实验室培养研究生(硕士)和本科生的教职员工的研究项目，而且还会提高学生的学习和研究体验。学生们将在当地的学生研究会议以及地区和国家会议上展示他们的发现。他们还将以经推荐的出版物的形式传播他们的调查结果。让学生接触到这种常规但最先进的技术和获得的数据的传播将使他们的研究生涯受益，使他们在研究生课程中具有竞争力。现有的一门本科发育遗传学、细胞生物学和显微镜课程将结合这项技术，并使学生接触到这种最先进的成像技术。研究生和本科生的其他课程也将开发这项技术的模块。为了吸引和吸引年轻科学家选择科学领域的职业，我们将为当地高中的教师和学生提供参观该设施的机会，并第一手学习共焦显微镜的力量。此外，来自西九龙大学加顿数学与科学学院的初中生和高中生也将受益于这种显微镜的可用性和技术能力，因为其中几名学生在带头开展各种研究项目的个人投资机构的实验室进行研究。该显微镜将按次收费提供给其他地区的学术机构，并将在肯塔基州科学院组织的地区会议上进行广告宣传。此外，肯塔基州社区和技术学院系统的教授和他们的学生将有机会参观该设施，展示共焦显微镜及其能力。共聚焦显微镜通常被生物学家用来了解基因产物(蛋白质和RNA)在细胞内的空间和时间定位。它还提供了对以远高于传统荧光显微镜的分辨率开发生命系统的细胞和组织结构的有价值的见解。收购这一最先进的显微镜将影响西科大教员在不同领域的项目，从果蝇细胞和发育生物学、微生物学、斑马鱼神经生物学、内分泌学、植物生物学、衣藻中蛋白质的免疫定位到纳米技术。共焦显微镜将扩大肯塔基州南部地区的能力和能力，使学生能够参与高水平的研究项目。蛋白质的细胞定位、高分辨率细胞图像的生成和正常发育过程中涉及的机制的理解都将使用这种显微镜，从而使学生接触到复杂的研究。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 Western Kentucky University for the acquisition of a Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope for research and instruction at a primarily undergraduate institution. The microscope will build imaging capacity at WKU and in the Southern Kentucky region. It will not only impact the research projects of several faculty members who train Graduate (Masters) and Undergraduate students in their laboratories but also enhance the student learning and research experience. The students will present their findings at the local Student Research Conference and at regional and national meetings. They will also disseminate their findings in the form of refereed publications. The exposure of students to this routine yet state-of-the-art technique and the dissemination of acquired data will benefit their research careers by making them competitive for graduate programs. An existing undergraduate Developmental Genetics, Cell Biology and Microscopy course will incorporate this technique and expose students to this state-of-the-art imaging. Additional courses at graduate and undergraduate level will develop modules for this technique as well. To engage and attract young scientists into choosing careers in the sciences, we will offer teachers and students from local high schools opportunities to visit the facility and learn firsthand the power of confocal microscopy. Additionally, rising high school junior and senior students from the Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science at WKU will also benefit from the availability and technical capabilities of this microscope as several of these students conduct research in the laboratories of the PIs who spearhead a variety of research projects. The microscope will be made available to other regional academic institutions on a fees per use basis and will be advertised at the regional conference organized by the Kentucky Academy of Science. Furthermore, professors and their students within the Kentucky Community and Technical College System will have opportunities to visit the facility for a demonstration of the Confocal Microscope and its capabilities. Confocal microscopy is routinely utilized by biologists to understand the localization of gene products (proteins and RNA) within a cell in space and time. It also provides valuable insights into the cellular and tissue architecture of developing living systems at resolutions far superior to conventional fluorescence microscopy. Acquisition of this state-of-the-art microscope will impact WKU faculty projects in diverse fields ranging from the Cell and Developmental Biology of fruit flies, Microbiology, Neurobiology of Zebrafish, Endocrinology, Plant Biology, Immunolocalization of proteins in Chlamydomonas to Nanotechnology. The confocal microscope will expand capability and capacity in the Southern Kentucky region and enable students to be part of high caliber research projects. Cellular localization of proteins, generation of high resolution cellular images and understanding mechanisms involved in normal development will all be possible with this microscope, thereby exposing students to sophisticated research.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.