MRI: Acquisition of a Confocal Microscope for Student-Faculty Research and Research Training

Oberlin College, Oberlin OH

Investigators

Abstract

An award is made to Oberlin College to support the acquisition of a confocal microscope for use by faculty from Oberlin's Biology, Chemistry & Biochemistry, and Neuroscience Departments and by faculty at other institutions in the region. The confocal system will advance undergraduate training through mentored research and expansion of course-based research. The increased ease of use and robustness of the requested confocal will greatly expand Oberlin's ability to support student use in individually mentored research and in curricular offerings, while the higher scan speed, greater sensitivity, and addition of environmental control will enhance data collection. Science education at Oberlin will therefore be enhanced by the improved activity and productivity of individual faculty research programs. Access to up-to-date instrumentation is essential to prepare students for careers in scientific research, and Oberlin College faculty will incorporate the new confocal system into four upper-level investigative laboratory courses as well as mentored research where broadening participation of under-represented student groups is particularly emphasized. Modern confocal microscopy systems improve the types and quality of data that researchers can obtain and expand the range of research questions faculty can undertake. Oberlin researchers will use the system to gain deeper insight into developmental and biochemical processes through analysis of the mechanisms leading to organ initiation and spacing in plants, regulation of a proton mediated cell-cell signaling event in C. elegans, embryo formation in marsupials, immune responses to intracellular bacterial pathogens, and a range of neuroscience topics. Data and analyses from these studies will be published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, presented at scientific meetings, and used in both educational and public outreach activities. 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.