This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
This Major Research Instrumentation-Recovery and Reinvestment (MRI-R2) award funds the development of a multipoint, dual color fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy (FFS) at Harvard University. The instrumentation enables new research on the spatial regulation of protein behaviors in cells and developing organisms, and high throughput studies of protein dynamics and interactions in vivo. This work will have a large impact on a number of areas in biology, including cell biology, developmental biology, and systems biology. The development effort serves as a focal point for interdisciplinary research that includes elements of biology, engineering, and physics. The development effort and the corresponding research activities will enable and help physical scientist address biologically relevant questions, while encouraging biologists to adopt more quantitative approaches. Undergraduates, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows will be intimately involved in the instrumentation effort, and thus will receive a solid education in developing quantitative experimental techniques in an interdisciplinary setting. Undergraduates and graduate students who visit as part of courses or summer programs will have the opportunity to see optics, statistical physics and biology taught through the use of cutting-edge technology. A high school teacher will also work on the project, to explore ways of involving high school students, particularly those from underrepresented groups. The development effort will be reported in scientific journals and publicized on a website. Once constructed, the instrument will be readily available to researchers, and new user will be recruited by the development team and an on-line sign up.
