The award supports the purchase of an automated, eight-capillary sequencer, a PCR thermal cycler, and associated equipment needed for DNA sequence determination and subsequent analysis. The instruments will be used create a sequencing facility for use by faculty and students in the University's Department of Biological Sciences. Anticipated uses include a diverse array of research projects including systematics of spiders, plants and vertebrates; evolution of the immune system; plant signaling networks; and plant phylogeny. Sequence data are of central importance for analyzing gene structure and expression, and for predicting, characterizing and manipulating protein function in cellular and molecular biology. Sequence data are also important in systematic biology where DNA data are used with morphological data to understand the phylogenetic relationships among organisms. The equipment will be available for use in both research and training. In addition to faculty and postgraduate researchers, undergraduate students doing independent research or laboratory exercises will be able to use the instruments.
