This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
A grant has been awarded to Loyola University Chicago to purchase a Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope. Confocal technology reduces blur in microscope images, thereby enabling scientists to see what would otherwise be obscured. It also allows a "3D" image to be created. The research at Loyola University Chicago spans a broad range of topics including developmental neurobiology, parasitology, evolution of hearing, and the impact of algal communities on the food chain. The diversity of research benefiting from the confocal microscope illustrates the importance of this technology for advancing the life sciences. Confocal technology will dramatically enhance training of undergraduate and graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers. Trainees as well as professors will be able to pursue projects that were previously impossible at Loyola University. The equipment will also be used in at least three laboratory courses. Loyola students who do not conduct research or take the Imaging course will still benefit from the acquisition of the confocal system because many attend public student research poster presentations that take place during the Fall, Spring, and Summer sessions. Loyola also strives to recruit motivated high school graduates from racially diverse and financially underprivileged areas, many of whom become Biology majors and some of whom work in laboratories in which imaging is key. Results from the projects conducted with the confocal system will be published in peer-reviewed journals, and disseminated by students and faculty during presentations at regional and national meetings.
