Instrumentation requested in this proposal will provide a comprehensive computer imaging and analysis system for use by the faculty and students of Lawrence University in multiple research projects. The proposed system will be based on a Macintosh central processing unit (CPU) and will consist of software and a number of peripherals that will allow for collection, storage, analysis, and communication of experimental results. Such a system will enable investigators in a biology and geology tm utilize cuffing edge technology to enhance and extend existing and planned research programs. The CPU for the proposed system will have a 2GB harddrive with 768MB RAM. A 21 inch high resolution color monitor will be used with the CPU. A graphics card and DOS compatibility card will be added to the CPU. Data collection peripherals will include a digital color camera for field work and a CCD camera for use with a compound and stereomicroscopes (these microscopes will be dedicated for computer imaging use only), a flatbed color scanner, a projection-slide color scanner, and a gel scanner. Data storage peripherals will include a magneto-optical drive and ten rewritable, magneto-optical cartridges. Various types of software will be used for data collection and analysis as well as communication of research results. Peripherals to be used for production of various media for communication of research results will include a projection slide printer, a laser printer, a large-document color printer, and a photographic-quality color printer. Several investigators engaged in different types of research would benefit from the use of a computer imaging system. In biological research, applications will range from ecological field studies to molecular biology. In ecological field studies, digital image capture and morphometric analysis will enable quantification of size and shape variations within Lake Winnebago prey fish populations. In molecular biology applications, densi tometry will be used to quantify the amounts of myosin mRNA in wild type versus mutant C. elegans. Another research program will use densitometry for quantification of gene induction in chick embryos treated with the growth factor, bFGF. Additionally, a number of future research applications will be possible, such- as the use of morphometric analysis of histological preparations from physiological research involving sex specific circadian rhythms in crickets as well as from cell biological research involving in vitro cell culture. As is the case with biological research, the requested equipment will have a wide variety of applications in geological research. Applications will range from landscape to microscopic scale. At the landscape scale, a specific use in ongoing research will be to analyze satellite and aerial images to map the distribution of late Quaternary landforms in eastern Wisconsin. At the microscopic scale, computer imaging will be used to quantitatively analyze microstructures in deformed rocks from the upper midwest.
