MRI/RUI: Acquisition of Instrumentation for High Resolution Light Microscopy and Image Processing at Mount Holyoke College

Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley MA

Investigators

Abstract

Proposal 6113720 PI: Sue Ellen F. Gruber Acquisition of Instrumentation for High Resolution Light Microscopy and Image Processing at Mount Holyoke College ABSTRACT A grant has been awarded to Dr. Sue Ellen F. Gruber and five other biologists at Mount Holyoke College to acquire instrumentation for high resolution light microscopy and image processing. Light microscopy is core to the analysis of diverse biological questions under investigation by these faculty and their undergraduates in the Biology Department. The instruments to be obtained, including a research-quality fluorescence microscope coupled to a high resolution cooled CCD camera and computer hardware and software appropriate for image processing, will augment the research needs of these researchers, and in each case will permit experimentation and analysis not possible with existing equipment. This grant will, at the same time, enhance the research training of students in the Biology Department, as well as in the two allied programs of Biochemistry, and Neuroscience and Behavior. The new instrumentation, to become part of an integrated microscopy facility, will complement the existing electron microscopes with up-to-date sophistication in the several modes of light microscopy. Projects under investigation by the six participating biology faculty members are wide-ranging. One examines the immunological interactions between a mother and fetus that influence the success of pregnancy. A second explores the action of antimalarial drugs in microorganisms. A third, unique in North America, aims to document the biodiversity of neglected invertebrate groups. The remaining projects dissect the events giving rise to programmed cell death in plants, sort out the identity of cell surface features that may be responsible for AIDS-related immunodeficiency in mice, and examine the role of steroid hormones in the development of fruitflies. In all instances, the enhanced ability to obtain and process high quality microscope images will open up new avenues of experimentation. Mount Holyoke College is an institution dedicated to preparing women to be leaders in every part of productive society and has an especially outstanding record in training women scientists. Its mission is to train students to think and act as practicing scientists, by working with accomplished faculty who emphasize hands-on research with modern equipment. Thus, the benefits of the new instrumentation will extend beyond the particular faculty research accomplishments, as they nurture the research training of a generation of future scientists.