This award provides support for a three week workshop offering hands-on in modern laser scanning confocal imaging to faculty and undergraduates from the PI's institution and from two nearby historically black universities. Participants will be expected to master new research skills, including the imaging of thin optical sections from within thick fluorescence-labeled specimens; the use of stacked optical sections in making quantitative three-dimensional measurements; the use of multifluorescence imaging and time-lapse recordings; the use of fluorescent indicators sensitive to local (intracellular) free ion concentration, membrane potential, enzymatic activity and/or other physiochemical parameters; and to quantitative colocalization analyses. These and other microscopic techniques are critical to modern cell biology research. The workshop is expected to strengthen links between faculty in the three universities and the staff of the Applacian State University Microscopy Center, which is directed by the PI, and to enrich the content of coursework offered by the participating faculty.
