Bernard Possidente, PhD - US grants

In the area of organismic biology, this department offers courses ranging from physiology to genetics to ecology. If students are to fully appreciate the scope of these topics, they must become actively engaged in laboratory and field studies using current techniques. The goal of this project is to incorporate an EGC controlled-environment chamber, a HACH spectrophotometer, a Sartorius top loading balance with computer interface capability (all for laboratory use), a HACH portable testing "laboratory" and a LICOR data logging system (for field use) into the department's instructional program. These instruments are significantly improving laboratory and field instruction in organismic biology, particularly in physiology and ecology, by allowing students to experience first-hand such concepts as the effects of temperature on physiological processes and on population growth rates, and the nature of nutrient dynamics in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Students also benefit from seeing how up-to- date equipment and research techniques are applied to examining modern biological hypotheses. Courses at the introductory, intermediate and advanced levels are affected, as is the senior thesis research program. The grantee institution is matching the NSF award with an equal sum obtained from non-Federal sources.

The ultimate objective of the research proposed here is to examine the role of circadian (daily) rhythm disruption in the expression of human depressive disorders, using a mouse model system. Removal of the olfactory bulbs in rodents induces a syndrome of effects that closely mimic human unipolar depression. The present research is designed to investigate the hypothesis that the olfactory bulbs are a regulatory .component of the rodent circadian system, and that changes in circadian rhythms typical of patients with unipolar depression may be induced by removal of the olfactory bulbs. Period, phase and phase response curves of circadian rhythms will be compared between bulbectomized and sham-operated mice, and a complex of different rhythms will be assayed in combination with secondary lesions in the suprachiasmatic nuclei to try and identify the extent of olfactory bulb influence on three different circadian pacemakers in the rodent circadian system. The results will help describe the role of the olfactory bulbs in the regulation and expression of rodent circadian rhythms, and will be useful in developing a more complete and accurate model of human unipolar depression.

The Skidmore Microscopy Imaging Center (SMIC), an institution-wide technology center, serves multiple research, teaching and outreach initiatives across the Sciences at Skidmore College. This project provides funding for the purchase of a new transmission electron microscope (TEM) for SMIC. The new instrument, a Zeiss Libra 120 TEM, provides enhanced resolution/contrast through its energy filter system, 3-dimensional analysis through its electron tomography capabilities, elemental analysis via EELS and rapid digital image capture and analysis. This instrument enhances research opportunities for Skidmore College faculty and students, expands teaching and outreach opportunities, establishes a new collaborative network with Albany Medical College, and builds upon a collaborative infrastructure with other consortium institutions within the greater Capital District of New York.

This instrument also provides significantly enhanced research opportunities for undergraduates in such areas as plant biology, protistology, microbiology, animal developmental biology and neuroscience as well paleogeology and physics. This project also supplements national and international collaborations already established by the researchers and establishes new and dynamic links between an undergraduate institution, the regional medical college and other partnering entities in the Capital District of New York. This instrumentation provides our S3M students (NSF S-STEM Program) with critical training on state-of-the-art technology as well as facilitates research competitiveness and opportunities for advanced training under Skidmore's recently funded NSF ADVANCE Grant. The project also enhances outreach activities, many of which are focused on educational enhancement at the K-12 levels in economically disadvantaged schools in Albany, New York and the Upper Hudson River region. Research supported by this instrument and derivative teaching materials are made available to the public via numerous faculty-student presentations at regional and national meetings and publications as well as the Skidmore College "SMIC" website.