A grant has been awarded to Dr. Marten J. Edwards at Ohio Wesleyan University to purchase a confocal laser scanning biological microscopy system. Confocal laser scanning microscopy offers significant advantages over conventional fluorescent microscopy. It improves the resolution of images by recording fluorescence or reflected light generated from a single focal plane within the sample, while rejecting all other light coming from above or below the this plane. The elimination of this out-of-focus light, which blurs conventional images, permits resolution of sub-micron structures within cells and tissue sections. It can produce optical sections through a 3-dimensional specimen - e.g., an entire cell or tissue sample. By moving the focal plane of the instrument stepwise through the depth of the specimen, a series of optical sections can be recorded. These sections can be merged to reconstruct a 3-dimensional image that would be impossible to achieve by conventional light microscopy. The digital images produced by confocal microscopy are amenable to image analysis and processing. Confocal microscopy also offers a major increase in sensitivity over conventional light microscopy. The light source is a laser, and the image is digitized by a highly sensetive photomultiplier tube. The principal user of the confocal imaging system will be Dr. Marten J. Edwards who is exploring the molecular interface between mosquitoes and the pathogens they transmit. His research has focused on the temporal and spatial dynamics of gene expression in the mosquito midgut and ovaries. Using confocal microscopy, it will be possible to detect the expression of fluorescent marker proteins in transgenic mosquitoes. The undergraduate research program at Ohio Wesleyan University will be significantly enhanced by a scanning laser confocal imaging system. Research in the Edwards lab has direct applications to the study of the transmission of LaCrosse viral encephalitis by mosquitoes. The confocal system will also serve an important role in the local research community, primarily through long-term collaborations with investigators at the USDA laboratories in Delaware, OH. The aim is to provide the highest possible level of research training in the intensive learning environment of a small liberal arts college. The confocal laser scanning confocal microscopy will provide students and faculty with access to technologies that are expanding the boundaries of the types of questions that can explored in the biology laboratory. This will provide us with a unique opportunity to expose undergraduate students to hands-on experience and discovery at the frontiers of biological research.
