MRI: Acquisition of Spinning Disk Confocal for Multi-Disciplinary Research and Undergraduate Teaching and Training

An award is made to Butler University to acquire a spinning disk confocal microscope. Butler University is a primarily undergraduate institution in Indianapolis, IN that has a strong commitment to the integration of teaching and research. This confocal microscope will enhance the training and education of undergraduate and master’s level researchers, who will be the main users of this instrument.

Exposure to modern microscopy techniques will prepare these students for graduate studies or for positions in the STEM workforce. This microscope will also be used as part of a new microscopy course in the Department of Biological Sciences. In this course, Butler undergraduate students will be trained in the applications of different types of microscopy and will participate in authentic research experiences using the spinning disk confocal microscope.

Reaching outside Butler, students in this course will also design a microscopy module to engage students at an Indianapolis high school serving a high percentage of students in marginalized groups. This partnership will increase the involvement of students underrepresented in STEM fields to research and coursework being done in their community. Finally, the microscope will be made available, free of charge, to researchers at nearby institutions with limited microscopy access, thereby increasing the productivity of multiple research groups in the area.

The spinning disk confocal microscope will significantly enhance the types of imaging experiments that can be performed by faculty and students at Butler University. Spanning the disciplines of biology, biochemistry, and pharmaceutical sciences, impacted research areas include egg development, neuronal signaling, tuberculosis infection, mechanisms of virus attachment and entry, regulation of gene expression, and neurotransmitter receptor structure and localization.

The spinning disk microscope will allow faculty and student researchers to perform high resolution, long-term live imaging of cells, tissues, or entire organisms in a controlled environment with the added ability to monitor the dynamics and turnover of proteins or structures of interest; these capabilities were not previously possible with the available instrumentation on campus. This microscope will greatly expand the faculty’s research resources and productivity and students’ exposure to state-of-the-art imaging techniques.

The results from these studies will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications and presentations at local, national, and international research conferences.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.