Harriett E. Smith-Somerville - US grants

This award provides funding for the purchase of a new transmission electron microscope and ultramicrotome for the Optical Analysis Facility in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alabama. These instruments will provide state of the art equipment to meet the needs of the rapidly growing research groups in cellular and molecular biology, ecology and molecular systematics in the Department of Biological Sciences, and for faculty in the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Chemical Engineering. The transmission electron microscope will be equipped with a LaB6 gun, eucentric goniometer stage, cold trap anti-contamination device, a sheet film camera and a CCD camera with digital imaging acquisition hardware, computer and software. The ultramicrotome will be equipped with eucentric tilt capability, a touch screen and a high quality binocular system. This instrument will add a microtome with modern features, flexibility, and the capability to produce many sections of consistent thickness required for serial sectioning at the Facility. The microscope and ultramicrotome will be used for a broad range of studies including the cytoskeletal structure and organelle arrangement in wild type and mutant forms of the heterotophic protist Tetrahymena, the cellular management of protein misfolding, the fine structures of chytrid zoospores, the internal structures of sponges and their spicules, the cellular mechanisms that regulate intestinal performance, localization of 1L-myo-inositol 1-phosphate synthase in plants, and imaging hydrogel materials for use as biomaterial deposits for targeted drug delivery.

The Optical Analysis Facility is a major resource for individual and collaborative research efforts in the Departments of Biological Sciences, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, and three interdisciplinary centers, the Center for Biomolecular Products, the Center for Freshwater Studies and the Center for Green Manufacturing. Research conducted with the equipment will have broad impact in such diverse areas as the lineage of a group fungi that are common parasites on organisms from algae to frogs, factors involved in the cellular dysfunction in the neurological diseases dystonia and Parkinson's disease, and targeted drug delivery. In addition, these instruments will be available for training on an individual basis and in the existing graduate course in microscopical techniques and for demonstrations and tours for classes at the University of Alabama and area students from two-year and four-year colleges, primary and secondary schools. These instruments will replace aging equipment and insure that reliable equipment optimized for biological specimen preparation and observation will be available.