Award Abstract #0320586
Acquisition of a Biological Electron Microscope and Digital Camera System

NSF Org:	DBI Division of Biological Infrastructure
Initial Amendment Date:	September 3, 2003
Latest Amendment Date:	September 3, 2003
Award Number:	0320586
Award Instrument:	Standard Grant
Program Manager:	Helen G. Hansma DBI Division of Biological Infrastructure BIO Directorate for Biological Sciences
Start Date:	September 1, 2003
Expires:	August 31, 2006 (Estimated)
Awarded Amount to Date:	$256274
Investigator(s):	Susan Sesack sesack@bns.pitt.edu (Principal Investigator)
Sponsor:	University of Pittsburgh 350 THACKERAY HALL PITTSBURGH, PA 15260 412/624-7400
NSF Program(s):	MAJOR RESEARCH INSTRUMENTATION
Field Application(s):
Program Reference Code(s):	BIOT, 9184
Program Element Code(s):	1189

ABSTRACT

A grant has been awarded to the University of Pittsburgh under the direction of Dr. Susan R. Sesack to fund the purchase of a biological electron microscope with a digital photography system and external monitor. This instrumentation will enable faculty in the Departments of Neuroscience, Biological Sciences and Chemistry to achieve and expand their research objectives by providing a state-of-the-art electron microscope system that is designed to enhance the efficiency and productivity of analyzing complex biological specimens and to capture images in a digital format. For all biologically-based sciences, knowledge regarding the fine structural details of organisms is essential for understanding their function, and the awarded electron microscope will be a principal means for visualizing this ultrastructure. The instrumentation will also be used to determine how structure is altered by environmental manipulations that drive adaptive responses. Moreover, ultrastructural methods will be combined with other techniques to determine the shape, distribution and trafficking of molecules that are essential for biological functions. Finally, the digital format of the system will considerably increase the efficiency of image capture and reproduction and greatly enhance the training missions of faculty in the natural sciences.

The faculty supported by this award are distributed across multiple departments, and so the instrumentation will support research programs that are quite diverse. A brief listing includes: ultrastructural investigation of synaptic connections that link brain regions regulating behavior, cellular processes and plasticity underlying neuronal signaling, localization of molecules regulating neurotransmission, microanalytical monitoring of brain neurochemicals, biochemical processes of muscle, synthesis and assembly of cellular organelles, intracellular molecular trafficking of proteins, synthesis, assembly and structure of proteins and bacterial viruses, assembly and segregation of chromosomes, and the molecular biology of mycobacteria and DNA tumor viruses. In the process of conducting this research, the faculty will integrate their experimental studies involving the instrumentation with the training of new scientists at the postdoctoral, doctoral, undergraduate, and high school levels. The digital format for image capture will be particularly instrumental in training, because it will provide external viewing of specimens by faculty and students working together. The instrumentation will also be used to teach courses in cell biology and virology.

The scientific importance of this project stems from the fact that it provides instrumentation that will facilitate the research programs of a large number of well-established investigators whose work is designed to improve understanding of the basic structure and function of biological organisms ranging from viruses to humans and including both normal and diseased cellular processes. The academic applications of the instrumentation will facilitate both the recruitment and education of new scientists from both traditionally represented and underrepresented groups. Such educational objectives will ensure that students of science enter society with a better appreciation of biological structure and function and a conviction that more research is needed to understand all living organisms, the environment, and the inner workings of the human body and brain. Finally, the instrumentation will enhance the infrastructure that integrates research and teaching, foster collaborations within and across scientific disciplines (e.g., chemistry, biology, and neuroscience), and contribute to the broad dissemination of the intellectual benefits of ultrastructural research within the scientific and lay communities.

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