This award is for the acquisition of a multiphoton-ready confocal microscope, on an inverted platform, to be deployed in parallel with a 7-year-old confocal microscope at the university's Center for Ultrastructural Research. Under the Center's ?Open-door? policy, this instrument will be available to researchers at the university and in the region, for projects in a wide variety of areas. Seven productive university researchers, in a variety of disciplines, will use this instrument in their research. These researchers need the instrument either because it offers multiphoton capability in an inverted microscope platform, or because its rapid scan rate offers live cell capabilities in a true confocal scanner, or both. The major users' research areas are: Euglenid taxonomy; synthetic organic chemistry; biochemistry of lipoprotein assembly; functional neural imaging; developmental neurobiology; modulation of insect immunity; and plant cell biology.
This microscope will be in a 38-year-old imaging center that is the premier central facility for high-end imaging for the university community, currently serving at least 60 researchers in 22 departments or other administrative units at the university and other regional institutions. The aim of the center is to provide and maintain cutting-edge instrumentation to support the research needs of the faculty, as well as to serve as a resource for training students and staff. The center and its microscopes are widely used in instruction in high-level imaging at both the Graduate and Undergraduate levels, as well as informal community instruction through tours and demonstrations at local schools. Finally, the instrumentation at the center has been used to support regional microscopy meetings for demonstrating state-of-the-art imaging technology.
