A grant has been awarded to Mount Holyoke College under the direction of Dr. Sharon Stranford to support the acquisition of a suite of instruments for the quantitative analysis of nucleic acids in investigations concerning gene expression and regulation. Biology has become both very molecular and interdisciplinary. Six faculty members with disparate intellectual interests will use these instruments in both their research and teaching to explore immune-mediated modulation of embryonic development, genetic control of fruit morphogenesis in Solanum, transcription initiation process of E. coli RNA polymerase, biophysical chemistry of DNA repair, differential gene expression in a mouse model of AIDS, and tissue-specific regulation of gene expression during Drosophila metamorphosis. The suite of instruments includes a phosphorimager for data acquisition and analysis of large polyacrylamide gels, a CCD camera system for the documentation and analysis of agarose gels and blots, a real-time PCR system for monitoring the instantaneous level of gene expression, a microarray scanner for the global analysis of gene expression, and a spectrometer for the quantitation of very small volumes of nucleic acids.
This suite of genomics instruments will significantly expand the molecular research infrastructure and provide rigorous quantitative capability for at least six faculty and their undergraduate students in the fields of biological sciences, biochemistry, and biophysical chemistry. The cross-disciplinary nature of these investigations into genomic processes will encourage students to look past traditional boundaries, use the knowledge they have learned in other areas, and discuss their ideas and questions with students and faculty who have other fields of expertise. These instruments will be used by research students from different laboratories full-time during the summer session, and will be shared between research and teaching laboratories during the academic year.
Founded by chemist Mary Lyon in 1837, Mount Holyoke has a more than a century-and-a-half of tradition in educating women at the forefront of science, mathematics, and technology. Within this context, the acquisition of these instruments will enable the familiarization of the young women of our institution, and the scientists of tomorrow, with the most current and powerful instrumentation for genomic analysis.
