Double-headed, differential interference contrast microscope, with dedicated camera assembly for parasitological research and training of HQP.

寄生虫普遍存在于所有脊椎动物物种中和/或其上，是全球生物多样性的重要组成部分。 大型寄生虫，包括节肢动物，蛔虫和扁形虫，可以对其宿主产生重大影响，包括死亡，体重减轻，行为变化和增加对捕食的敏感性等。寄生虫的全球多样性是巨大的，但其中大部分仍然没有描述。特别是在野生动物中，新的寄生虫属，种和菌株经常被发现。气候变化导致范围扩大和寄生虫在新的宿主和地点出现，并强调在寄生虫系统学领域保持训练有素的人员的至关重要性;能够识别新属，种，株的人，并在更广泛的生物多样性和进化背景下解释这些发现。 寄生虫显微镜下的分离和可视化是寄生虫鉴定的“第一线”，训练有素的个体可能会识别出不寻常的特征，这表明需要进一步的形态学和分子表征。这些技能正在失去越来越多的努力是针对分子诊断。经典和分子寄生虫学领域是互补的：形态学专业知识允许识别新的寄生虫或不寻常的特征，识别和描述发育阶段，而分子工具使我们能够更深入地研究种群生物学等问题。这里申请的设备是一台带有教学头、绘图管和专用摄像系统的微分干涉对比显微镜，将支持从热带到北极以及城市、管理和自然环境中的家畜和野生动物寄生虫生物多样性的几个培训和研究项目。它将有助于NSERC创建主机寄生虫互动培训计划在卡尔加里大学，并促进众多研究生，技术人员和本科生，下一代科学家的培训和研究，在寄生虫检测，识别，系统学和分类学。

Parasites are ubiquitous, present in and/or on all vertebrate species, and are important components of global biodiversity. Macro-parasites, including arthropods, roundworms, and flatworms, can have significant impacts on their hosts, ranging from death, weight loss, behavioral changes, and increased susceptibility to predation etc.. The global diversity of parasites is immense yet much of it remains undescribed. In wildlife in particular, new parasite genera, species, and strains are routinely discovered. Climate change is resulting in range expansions and emergence of parasites in new hosts and locations, and emphasizes the critical importance of maintaining highly trained personnel in the area of parasite systematics; people who are capable of identifying new genera, species, strains, and interpreting these findings within a broader biodiversity and evolutionary context. Isolation and visualization of a parasite microscopically is the 'front-line' for parasite identification and well-trained individuals may recognize unusual characteristics indicating further morphological and molecular characterization is required. These skills are being lost as increasing effort is directed towards molecular diagnostics. The fields of classical and molecular parasitology are complementary: morphological expertise allows recognition of new parasites or unusual features and identification and description of developmental stages,while molecular tools allow us to delve deeper into questions such as population biology. The equipment applied for here, a differential interference contrast microscope with a teaching head, drawing tube, and dedicated camera system, will support several training and research programs on the biodiversity of parasites in domestic and wild animals from the tropics to the Arctic and in urban, managed and natural environments. It will contribute to the NSERC CREATE Host-Parasite Interactions training program at the University of Calgary and facilitate the training and research of numerous graduate students, technicians, and undergraduates, the next generation of scientists, in parasite detection, identification, systematics and taxonomy.