This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
Support from the MRI-R2 program has allowed the purchase of a confocal microscope at Providence College. A critical number of experimental questions actively under investigation by Providence College faculty currently require high resolution imaging of fluorescently labeled cells and proteins. Programmed cell death (PCD) in both its forms, apoptosis (PCD I) and autophagy (PCD II), serves fundamental functions during plant and animal development. Dr. Austriaco's lab will use the confocal to localize PCD proteins in the yeast cell and to visualize their dynamics during the induction and progression of yeast cell death. Dr. Maia Bailey will investigate cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS), a process that converts ancestrally hermaphroditic plants to females, to explore the links between mitochondrial gene function and evolution. Dr. Bailey's lab will use the confocal to assess the membrane potential of mitochondria in the tapetal tissues of male sterile and male fertile Silene vulgaris and male fertile S. latifolia plants. Dr. Costello's lab will use the confocal to characterize the epitheliomuscular fiber packing and location across a phylogenetically diverse array of medusae. Recently, Dr. DeGiorgis has raised species-specific antibodies against five kinesins, three dynein light chains, and four myosins of the Woods Hole squid, Loligo pealei. His lab plans to use the confocal to optically section through antibody stained retina tissue to determine the distribution of these motors within the squid photoreceptor. Dr. Toth's lab will use the confocal and DNA FISH to determine whether NF-KB family members occupy RRBE sites in c-myb in murine erythroleukemia cells during differentiation. Dr. Wan's lab will use the confocal to monitor the intracellular translocation of the signaling molecules in both Gi1/3 wild type and knockout MEF cells in response to UV and IFR radiation. In addition to intellectual impacts in biology and neuroscience, a confocal microscope at Providence College will also have broader impacts by significantly enhancing the training of future scientists. Providence College is a selective liberal arts college where our science faculty collaborate with undergraduate students in their research programs. With faculty mentorship, undergraduate research students will use the confocal to conduct original research projects. Other students majoring in the sciences will also acquire contemporary microscopy and imaging skills in advanced undergraduate courses that already incorporate microscopy in their teaching laboratories. In sum, the confocal microscope will the continued training of students for careers in the life sciences. Results from the research enabled by this acquisition will be published in peer-reviewed journals, and presented by students and faculty at regional and national conferences.
