MRI: Acquisition of a Circular Dichroism Spectrometer for Research and Training at St. Mary's College of Maryland

MRI：购买圆二色性光谱仪用于马里兰州圣玛丽学院的研究和培训

基本信息

批准号：
1919581
负责人：
Shanen Sherrer
金额：
$ 12.18万
依托单位：
St Mary's College of Maryland
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2019
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2019-10-01 至 2021-09-30
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1919581&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
MRI Acquisition Circular Dichroism Spectrometer

项目摘要

An award is made to St. Mary's College of Maryland to purchase a circular dichroism (CD) spectrometer for collaborative research. This instrument monitors rotational change in circular polarized light as it passes through a sample with chirality, which a common property of biological, inorganic and organic materials. Faculty and students will use the CD spectrometer to probe macromolecular structural characteristics of soil organic matter, polymers and biomolecular interactions, and to examine changes to chemical properties under specific experimental conditions. This instrument will facilitate scholarly and instructional collaborations across disciplines and significantly enhance the college's infrastructure by providing new technology for quantitative analysis. It also will contribute towards the college's curricular transformations associated with participation in the multi-year Council for Undergraduate Research Transformations Project (NSF-DUE #1625354), which aims to integrate research activities into the undergraduate STEM curriculum to enhance student learning and better position students for success in the professional and academic arenas. The research projects facilitated with the CD spectrometer will address important societal issues including carbon cycling, pollutant fate and transport in the environment, the impact of emerging contaminants like endocrine disruptors on marine invertebrates, development of clean tight-gas extraction methods, and heavy metal exposure. CD spectroscopic studies at the college will augment and enhance current and future work by allowing faculty and student researchers to use the instrument to provide the following: (a) direct evidence of molecular interactions within DNA damage tolerance and repair systems; (b) improvement of molecular design of small molecule inhibitors for biological targets; (c) elucidation of structural thermodynamics of proteins in an avian endocrine system; (d) exploration of protein conformations and metal ion coordination geometry of metal-organic complexes; and (e) examination of ion behavior, structural changes and interactions of clay during uptake of fluid species in different thermochemical environments. Results from experiments using the CD spectrometer will benefit a broad range of research fields, from geochemical processes to molecular mechanisms of DNA repair in biological systems to whole organism physiology in oysters and birds.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.

马里兰州圣玛丽学院颁发了奖励，以购买循环二色性（CD）光谱仪进行协作研究。该仪器通过手性的样品来监视圆极化光的旋转变化，这是生物学，无机和有机材料的共同特性。教师和学生将使用CD光谱仪来探测土壤有机物，聚合物和生物分子相互作用的大分子结构特征，并检查在特定的实验条件下化学特性的变化。该工具将促进跨学科的学术和教学合作，并通过为定量分析提供新技术来显着增强大学的基础设施。它还将为大学的课程转型做出贡献，与参与多年的本科研究转型委员会（NSF-DUE＃1625354）有关，该项目旨在将研究活动纳入本科STEM课程，以增强学生学习，并在专业和学术领域取得成功的学生学习，并在学生学习方面取得成功。借助CD光谱仪促进的研究项目将解决重要的社会问题，包括碳循环，污染物命运和环境中的运输，内分泌干扰物（例如内分泌干扰物）对海洋无脊椎动物的影响，干净的紧密加气提取方法的发展以及重金属暴露。学院的CD光谱研究将通过允许教师和学生研究人员使用该工具提供以下内容来增强并增强当前和未来的工作：（a）直接证明DNA损伤耐受性和维修系统中分子相互作用的直接证据；（b）改进生物学靶标的小分子抑制剂的分子设计；（c）在禽内分泌系统中阐明蛋白质的结构热力学；（d）探索金属有机络合物的蛋白质构象和金属离子配位几何形状；（e）在不同热化学环境中摄取流体物种时粘土的离子行为，结构变化和相互作用。使用CD光谱仪实验的结果将使广泛的研究领域受益，从地球化学过程到生物系统中DNA修复的分子机制，再到牡蛎和鸟类中的整个有机体生理学。这奖反映了NSF的法定任务，并通过使用该基金会的知识优点和广泛影响来评估NSF的法定任务。