9318196 Battelle The Whitney Laboratory, a research institute of the University of Florida, was established in 1974 and is dedicated to the use of marine animals as experimental models for the study of basic processes in cell- and neurobiology. This mission is augmented by a teaching program that provides practical research training using marine organisms to investigators at all career levels from established scientists to high school students. Because of the cell biological emphasis of research at the Whitney Laboratory, we rely heavily on the techniques of anatomy, biophysics, and biochemistry and, most recently, molecular genetics. The expertise and specific research interests of the faculty at the Whitney Laboratory are diverse, but all of our work falls within the common themes of cell signalling and molecular evolution. Central to the research efforts of all groups at the Laboratory is our molecular genetics core facility that was established in 1989. The current and growing importance of the tools of molecular genetics and modern protein chemistry in the research effots of the Whitney Laboratory has produced a critical need for an image analysis system that will permit us to efficiently analyze the results of biochemical and molecular biological experiments. For this reason we are requesting funds to purchase an electriphoresis analyzer system that will be centrally located in the Laboratory so it can be used conveniently by all research groups. This system is essential to the continued success of many of our NSF-funded research programs. Without it, many of our on-going projects will be slowed significantly, and other critical projects simply will not get off the ground. ***
