This Major Research Instrumentation grant will support the acquisition of a fixed-stage upright confocal microscope and supporting computational infrastructure for Life Science research at the University of Houston. The acquired Leica confocal microscope will permit leading edge research into diverse areas of the life sciences including neurobiology and behavior, cell signaling, biochemistry and even evolution. Many established and junior investigators will use the advanced capabilities of the confocal microscope to address important questions, including: understanding the cellular mechanisms of memory formation, the dynamics and regulation of cytoskeleton function, and the biophysics of protein synthesis. This microscope is necessary both to maintain confocal capabilities of the University of Houston, and to expand the ability for investigations into new areas in biology and biochemistry. The state-of-the-art confocal microscope will permit advanced techniques such as uncaging neurotransmitters, fluorescence resonant energy transfer (FRET), and fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP). The microscope will also be used to establish collaborations with Computer Scientists to develop new solutions for computer assisted image analysis research. The collaboration between Life and Computer Scientists will facilitate new solutions for increasing the quality and quantity of data extracted from imaging experiments.
The acquired confocal microscope and biological image analysis computer facility will also be used to train postdocs, graduate and undergraduate students, including many underrepresented minorities. The University of Houston is the US?s second most ethnically diverse research university, and the 23rd largest in the United States. The Department of Biology and Biochemistry is the primary life science department at the University of Houston and has almost 3,000 undergraduate majors. Approximately 1/3rd of these majors are underrepresented minorities (11% African Americans, 21.5% Hispanic, 2% Native American). Many more of the Biology and Biochemistry undergraduates are also first generation college students. The confocal microscope will be used in undergraduate courses to train more than 400 undergraduate students per year and two graduate levels courses in cellular neuroscience, providing yearly training to approximately 20 graduate students in advanced microscopic techniques. The confocal microscope will be used further in new summer workshops on biological imaging for ~40 underrepresented minority undergraduate students. These trained undergraduates will be recruited into faculty labs for research projects that will use the acquired confocal microscope. The microscope will provide an attractive focus for engaging students to actively participate in life science and computer image analysis research programs. The confocal microscope and computer analysis facility will transform the scientific education of the Biology & Biochemistry and the Computer Science Students at the University of Houston.
