Refrigerated tabletop centrifuge

这项建议要求拨款更换一台已经使用9年的台式冷冻离心机，因为它坏了，无法修理。冷冻离心机是所有分子生物学和生物化学实验室的核心实验室设备，每天都会被我研究小组的研究实习生使用，以及至少6个其他用户在不列颠哥伦比亚大学动物学系使用。这个离心机是一个不可或缺的设备，它将支持研究鱼类适应环境温度的方式。众所周知，温度是影响鱼类分布和数量的一个重要因素。然而，尽管经过了几十年的研究，我们仍然没有完全了解鱼类在其一生中如何应对环境温度的变化，或者在进化过程中如何适应环境变化。在我们目前的研究中，我们正在测试这样一个假设，即适应低温所需的代谢增加是以对高温的敏感性增加为代价的，因此在高代谢率和高热耐受性之间进行权衡。我们也在研究这种效应的分子和生化基础。本研究将提供对短期和长期温度变化反应的生理和分子机制的理解。考虑到全球气候变化可能带来的影响，这种理解将尤为重要。

This proposal requests funds to replace a 9 year old refrigerated benchtop centrifuge that is broken and cannot be repaired. Refrigerated centrifuges are a core piece of laboratory equipment for all molecular biology and biochemistry laboratories and would be used daily by the research trainees in my research group, and by at least 6 other users in the Department of Zoology at the University of British Columbia. This centrifuge is an integral piece of equipment that will support research on the ways that fish adapt to the temperature of their environment. Temperature is known to be an important factor influencing the distribution and abundance of fish. Despite several decades of study, however, we still do not have a complete understanding of how fish respond to changes in environmental temperature during their lifetimes, or how adaptation to environmental change occurs over evolutionary time. In our current research we are testing the hypothesis that the increased metabolism required for adaptation to low temperatures comes at a cost of increased sensitivity to high temperatures, thus imposing a tradeoff between high metabolic rate and high thermal tolerance. We are also studying the molecular and biochemical basis of this effect. This research will provide an understanding of the physiological and molecular mechanisms underlying responses to temperature changes on both short and long time scales. This understanding will be particularly critical given the likely effects of global climate change.