Acquisition of a Chemistry/Biology Biomolecular Imaging Center

Wake Forest University, Winston Salem NC

Investigators

Abstract

A grant has been awarded to Wake Forest University under the direction of Dr. Rebecca Alexander and Dr. Bernard Brown II. This grant will help to establish an interdepartmental, multi-user, biomolecular imaging facility on the Reynolda campus of Wake Forest University. With an increasing number of research programs at the interface of chemistry and biology, Wake Forest has been building its instrumental infrastructure. In particular, researchers needed imaging equipment to analyze data rapidly and with increased sensitivity. This grant will support the purchase of a chemiluminescent/fluorescent imager and associated peripherals to supplement a recently acquired phosphorimager. The imager will be used for image capture of ethidium bromide-stained DNA gels; dye or silver-stained protein gels; chemiluminescent blotting applications; colony counting of agar plates; and other applications. The initial group of seven major users includes four faculty in the Chemistry Department and three in the Biology Department. Each investigator supervises undergraduate and graduate research projects in addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate courses. Four are junior faculty within the first four years of appointment, and this imaging facility is expected to increase their research productivity and improve the quality of data submitted to funding agencies and for publication. In addition to the major users included in the proposal, others in the Biology, Chemistry, and Physics Departments are likely to take advantage of the imaging facility once it is fully operational. It is estimated that as many as 80 undergraduates and graduate students will access the facility during the funding period. Funding of this proposal will have significant impact on teaching and outreach at Wake Forest University. In particular, WFU is pursuing approval for an undergraduate biochemistry major, including a required biochemistry laboratory and independent research projects. Access to contemporary imaging equipment will be vital to this training. Women and minorities are well-represented in both the undergraduate and graduate programs in the WFU Chemistry and Biology Departments, and their familiarity with the instrumentation described here will enhance their training and future career opportunities. In addition, science faculty from Salem College, a women's college in Winston-Salem, have expressed interest in demonstrating various imaging techniques to students, and equipment purchased through this award will be used in this outreach capacity. Wake Forest researchers will also use the instrumentation in an ongoing collaborative project with faculty and students at Winston-Salem State University, a historically Black university. Finally, this equipment will be available for demonstration to middle and high school teachers in the local public school district as a part of wider faculty outreach efforts.