MRI: Acquisition of a Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope Facility for Interdisciplinary Live Cell Imaging

MRI：购买用于跨学科活细胞成像的激光扫描共焦显微镜设备

• 批准号: 1229489
• 负责人: Gregg Roman
• 金额: $ 56.54万
• 依托单位: University of Houston
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-08-01 至 2015-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1229489&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; Acquisition; Laser; Scanning; Confocal

This Major Research Instrumentation grant will support the acquisition of a fixed-stage upright confocal microscope and supporting computational infrastructure for Life Science research at the University of Houston. The acquired Leica confocal microscope will permit leading edge research into diverse areas of the life sciences including neurobiology and behavior, cell signaling, biochemistry and even evolution. Many established and junior investigators will use the advanced capabilities of the confocal microscope to address important questions, including: understanding the cellular mechanisms of memory formation, the dynamics and regulation of cytoskeleton function, and the biophysics of protein synthesis. This microscope is necessary both to maintain confocal capabilities of the University of Houston, and to expand the ability for investigations into new areas in biology and biochemistry. The state-of-the-art confocal microscope will permit advanced techniques such as uncaging neurotransmitters, fluorescence resonant energy transfer (FRET), and fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP). The microscope will also be used to establish collaborations with Computer Scientists to develop new solutions for computer assisted image analysis research. The collaboration between Life and Computer Scientists will facilitate new solutions for increasing the quality and quantity of data extracted from imaging experiments. The acquired confocal microscope and biological image analysis computer facility will also be used to train postdocs, graduate and undergraduate students, including many underrepresented minorities. The University of Houston is the US?s second most ethnically diverse research university, and the 23rd largest in the United States. The Department of Biology and Biochemistry is the primary life science department at the University of Houston and has almost 3,000 undergraduate majors. Approximately 1/3rd of these majors are underrepresented minorities (11% African Americans, 21.5% Hispanic, 2% Native American). Many more of the Biology and Biochemistry undergraduates are also first generation college students. The confocal microscope will be used in undergraduate courses to train more than 400 undergraduate students per year and two graduate levels courses in cellular neuroscience, providing yearly training to approximately 20 graduate students in advanced microscopic techniques. The confocal microscope will be used further in new summer workshops on biological imaging for ~40 underrepresented minority undergraduate students. These trained undergraduates will be recruited into faculty labs for research projects that will use the acquired confocal microscope. The microscope will provide an attractive focus for engaging students to actively participate in life science and computer image analysis research programs. The confocal microscope and computer analysis facility will transform the scientific education of the Biology & Biochemistry and the Computer Science Students at the University of Houston.

这项主要的研究工具赠款将支持获得休斯敦大学生命科学研究的固定阶段直立共聚焦显微镜的获取。 获得的左侧共聚焦显微镜将允许对生命科学领域的领域进行领先研究，包括神经生物学和行为，细胞信号传导，生物化学甚至进化。 许多成立和初级研究者将使用共聚焦显微镜的高级能力来解决重要问题，包括：了解记忆形成的细胞机制，细胞骨架功能的动态和调节以及蛋白质合成的生物物理学。 该显微镜既需要维持休斯顿大学的共聚焦能力，又要扩大对生物学和生物化学新领域的调查能力。最先进的共聚焦显微镜将允许诸如神经递质脱离神经递质，荧光共振能量转移（FRET）以及光漂白后的荧光恢复（FRAP）等先进技术。 显微镜还将用于与计算机科学家建立合作，以开发用于计算机辅助图像分析研究的新解决方案。生活与计算机科学家之间的合作将促进新解决方案，以提高从成像实验中提取的数据的质量和数量。获得的共聚焦显微镜和生物图像分析计算机设施也将用于培训博士后，研究生和本科生，包括许多人为少数少数族裔。休斯顿大学是美国第二大种族多样化的研究大学，也是美国第23位。 生物学和生物化学系是休斯顿大学的主要生命科学系，拥有近3,000名本科生。这些专业的大约1/3是代表性不足的少数民族（11％的非裔美国人，21.5％的西班牙裔，2％的美国原住民）。 更多的生物学和生物化学本科生也是第一代大学生。共聚焦显微镜将在本科课程中使用，每年培训400多名本科生和两名研究生级课程，并在蜂窝神经科学中进行年度培训，为大约20名高级显微镜技术的研究生提供年度培训。 共聚焦显微镜将在有关约40个代表性不足的少数本科生的新夏季研讨会上进一步使用。这些受过训练的本科生将被招募到教师实验室，以用于使用所获得的共聚焦显微镜的研究项目。 显微镜将为吸引学生积极参与生命科学和计算机图像分析研究计划提供有吸引力的重点。共聚焦显微镜和计算机分析设施将改变休斯敦大学生物学与生物化学的科学教育以及计算机科学专业的学生。