MRI: Acquisition of a fluorescence microscope to serve as a regional resource for dynamic, live-specimen imaging research and education

James Madison University, Harrisonburg VA

Investigators

Abstract

An award is made to James Madison University (JMU) to fund the acquisition of an automated, fluorescence microscope system for dynamic, live-specimen imaging to advance research and education at JMU and in the surrounding region in Virginia. This instrumentation will expand the scope of research in multiple departments at JMU and in neighboring institutions by enabling faculty and students to study the dynamics of molecules, cells, and tissues. JMU and most of its neighboring colleges are primarily undergraduate institutions and are committed to engaging students in learning through faculty-mentored research. Indeed, students are responsible for over 95% of the total research use of our core microscopy facility. The new microscope system will provide these students with exposure to live imaging and multi-fluorescence technologies unavailable elsewhere in our region, and will expand the facility's ability to increase research opportunities for undergraduates. This instrumentation will also enhance formal upper-division courses such as Human Histology and Environmental Microbiology by providing students with practical training in light microscopy techniques. Moreover, in an effort to expand our impact on undergraduate research training, we will work with Bridgewater College's Biology Department (a neighboring, small liberal arts college) to provide access for their upper-division courses. Finally, this microscope system will support science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education in the northern Shenandoah Valley region by enhancing the JMU Biology Department's local elementary school outreach program. This program provides K-5 classes with the kinds of science enrichment experiences known to pique early interest in science (but often only accessible to select populations) to all students regardless of academic readiness, language and cultural barriers, and socioeconomic status. This state-of-the-art instrument will be integrated into 5th grade learning modules focusing on the components and dynamic nature of cells. The new fluorescence microscope system will open new investigative avenues for researchers at JMU and in the region by enabling the study of dynamic processes at multiple levels of biological organization-from molecular assemblies to entire organisms-and by accommodating multi-fluorescent-label imaging with a broader diversity of fluorescent probes. It will advance the research and training programs of at least 16 faculty members from three institutions and multiple STEM fields including biology, kinesiology, regenerative medicine, mathematics, engineering and science education. Projects that will be substantially impacted include: cornea tissue wound healing and regeneration; using molecular and mathematical tools to investigate cell- and organism-level responses to protein mis-folding (a component of many neurodegenerative diseases) in nematodes; genome reorganization during crustacean development; the relationship between stress and feeding behavior in mammals; and the role of endocrine signaling in the control of sexual signal production in snakes. The new instrumentation will also impact research in JMU's Kinesiology and Engineering departments, among others, as well as at neighboring institutions such as Bridgewater College, Eastern Mennonite University and the Marion DuPont Equine Medical Center.