An award is made to Hope College for the purchase of a Nikon A1 laser scanning confocal microscope system that will provide the cornerstone for the renovated microscopy facility and transform a wide range of research projects in the departments of biology, chemistry and geological and environmental sciences. Briefly, research projects include regulation of stem cells during development using the well-characterized model organisms Caenorhabditis elegans (nematode) and Danio rerio (zebrafish), the study of membrane trafficking molecules in neurons, 3D surface imaging of skeletal crystal orientation in sea urchin spines, effects of reproductive hormone secretion on the function of neurons, the role of proteins involved in cell growth and angiogenesis, examining interactions with single molecule chemistry, and evolutionary biology studying DNA binding proteins using the parasite, Giardia lamblia. A significant impact with the acquisition of a confocal microscope is that investigators will be able to expand their abilities to collect data at a higher level of optical quality, thus enabling them to perform more complex experiments, especially using live samples, in which time course and molecular localization studies are critical. Furthermore, use of the confocal microscope will allow investigators to maintain the expectations of their respective fields in data publishing standards, thus, allowing them to be more competitive for external research funding.
Acquiring a confocal microscope will transform the Hope College community and beyond in two major ways. The first major impact is the large number of undergraduate researchers that will receive training on the confocal microscope, which includes both Hope College students and non-Hope undergraduates accepted for the Summer Hope Academic Research Program. Additionally, the summer research programs include high school students and teachers accepted into the Research Experience Across Cultures at Hope, which focuses on recruiting students from under-represented populations in the sciences. The result of actively engaging undergraduate and high school researchers at Hope College for laboratory training using cutting edge technology, such as confocal microscopy, is that many of these students go on to pursue a PhD in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). The second major impact is that the investigators involved in these projects routinely present their research to the general public. By collecting data using cutting edge technology, they can present more compelling projects to the public with the goals of: 1) engaging more people in the scientific process, 2) demonstrating the relevance of the research projects, ranging in topics from cellular function to environmental impacts on local ecology and 3) recruiting talented students into the STEM fields as a career.
