This proposal requests funds to purchase a versatile state-of- the-art photomicroscope unit for the communal use of twelve investigators in the Department of Molecular Biology. The Department is new but has already obtained international prominence in the areas of x-ray crystallography NMR spectroscopy, computer graphics, and organic chemistry. The photomicroscope is critical for the conduct of research on: gap junction communication, genetic analysis of chlamydomonas motility, regulation of expression of lens fibre junctions, genetic analysis of cell division in yeast, specific gene expression in mammalian hippocampus, expression of hemin p. 70 in bone marrow cells and other tissues, survival of salmonella in macrophages, developmentally regulated expression of trypanosoma cruizi surface proteins, color variation in serratia marescens, genetic control of morphogenesis in dictyostelium discoidium and molecular studies of entamoeba histolytica, characterization of a cytoskeletal protein in the m-line of muscle, and importance of fluorescence microscopy for antineoplastic selectivity amplification. Additionally the photomicroscope will enable the department to expand its activities into new areas such as fluorescence signals, low-light intensification or enhancement procedures, and time-lapse video analysis for embryonic development studies.
