Use of Fluorescent-Labeling Compounds in Demonstrating Gene Delivery and Cytoplasmic Translation

摘要

Funds provided by this grant were used to purchase instruments in including fluorescence microscopes and an ultra-speed refrigerated centrifuge to establish the Bioengineering, Cell Biology and Tissue Culture laboratory and for student research projects. Undergraduate students and local high school teachers received training in the cell biology laboratory that was established in the Fall 2000. The laboratory was used as a teaching lab for the Cell Biology course offered by the PI, for research projects for pre-med students and students supported by the Alliance for Minority Participation (AMP) program headed by Mario Diaz, Ph.D., Chairman of the Engineering Technology Department. The nascent laboratory is part of an embryonic group for the establishment of a Bioengineering Program at the university. It was impossible however to establish the basic science research program initially envisioned by the PI. Finding adequate space for the laboratory was not realized until June 2000, furnishing the laboratory with discarded workbench obtained from the university warehouse and disinfecting all the cabinets and drawers was not accomplished until mid- August 2000, the ultra-speed centrifuge was not received until late fall 2000 due to the cumbersome purchasing process, and most significantly, the matching funds promised at the time of request for this grant were not made available for use by the PI. We did however have several successes: (1) for the first time in UTB history, the Cell Biology students had access to a functional laboratory and conducted real experiments independently; (2) three students with diverse backgrounds worked together in a study of the chloroplast and red blood cell membranes using the atomic force microscope and the microscopes purchased with these funds; and (3) several premed students conducted short, independent research project in the laboratory.