This award provides funds to the Biology Department at Bryn Mawr College to purchase a Porter-Blum MT-2C ultramicrotome, two Diatom diamond knives and an air isolation table. These instruments will be used to establish an ultramicrotomy facility that will be dedicated to use by undergraduate students conducting faculty supervised research projects and by students enrolled in course offerings of Cell Biology and Nervous System Structure and Function. The significance of the project rests in the importance that the undergraduates will be exposed to the broadest range of techniques available for the study of cellular structure and function. Transmission electron microscopy offers insight into these areas of cellular research that are not available through conventional light microscopical techniques. The grantee institution is matching this NSF award with funds from non-Federal sources.
