Award Abstract #0215923
Acquisition of Plant Growth Chambers for Teaching and Research: Enhancement of New Life Sciences Building

NSF Org:	DBI Division of Biological Infrastructure
Initial Amendment Date:	September 3, 2002
Latest Amendment Date:	February 16, 2006
Award Number:	0215923
Award Instrument:	Standard Grant
Program Manager:	Helen G. Hansma DBI Division of Biological Infrastructure BIO Directorate for Biological Sciences
Start Date:	September 1, 2002
Expires:	August 31, 2006 (Estimated)
Awarded Amount to Date:	$400000
Investigator(s):	Mark Guiltinan mjg9@psu.edu (Principal Investigator) Nina Fedoroff (Co-Principal Investigator) Claude dePamphilis (Co-Principal Investigator) Sarah Assmann (Co-Principal Investigator) Hong Ma (Co-Principal Investigator)
Sponsor:	Pennsylvania State Univ University Park 110 Technology Center Building UNIVERSITY PARK, PA 16802 814/865-1372
NSF Program(s):	INSTRUMENTAT & INSTRUMENT DEVP
Field Application(s):
Program Reference Code(s):	BIOT, 9184
Program Element Code(s):	1108

ABSTRACT

Abstract: Mark Guiltinan (#0215923)

A grant has been awarded to Pennsylvania State University under the direction of Dr. Mark Guiltinan to develop a Plant Growth Facility consisting of six growth chambers and a small greenhouse. The facility center will provide a physical home for the graduate programs, and an organizing role for the enhancement of Plant Sciences research, teaching and outreach programs.

The objectives of the center will be to: provide state-of-the-art research facilities for a core group of resident plant scientists, including current faculty and new hires; provide collaborative space in the new building to members of the Plant Science Center; develop and enhance collaborative interactions among plant scientists and with researchers

in other fields, at Penn State and elsewhere; improve the Plant Physiology and Ecological and Molecular Plant Physiology graduate education programs, and; develop outreach programs for the general public and for pre-college students.

This center will support research in plant sciences for diverse studies, but will be particularly important to the growing number of plant scientists using the model plant species, Arabidopsis thaliana. The completion of the Arabidopsis genome sequence, along with major new funding programs in plant genomics at the NSF and USDA,

have brought us to a new era in plant research, requiring high throughput facilities for functional analysis of genes.

Penn State has made a priority effort to enhance the life sciences; enhancement of the Plant Sciences Center will help us move forward on this path, by providing necessary facilities and maximizing laboratory space in the main building. This will in turn help to attract top faculty candidates who will be concerned about availability of such facilities. The facility will provide for the first time, an interdisciplinary, inter-college facility for high quality environmental growth of plants to support the many plant scientists at Penn State. It will also serve our teaching and outreach programs, providing a facility available to all for the growth of plants.

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