High-Resolution Microscopy System for Training Under-Represented Minority Scholars
Abstract
The funded new equipment is needed to support recent advances biomedical research at UNC Pembroke. The top of the line cellular and subcellular imaging system is the vital tool needed for the acquisition of details describing i) intracellular alterations, ii) interactions between cells, as well as iii) adhesion dynamics underlying signal transduction between extracellular matrices and cytoskeletal components. Of the UNC-Pembroke professors and research mentors that will benefit from the new imaging platform, Dr. Ben Bahr runs a major lab that works on neuroscience projects studying military-related traumatic brain injury and toxin exposure. The important research is finding links that may increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease and other chronic neurological illnesses. He mentors a team of researchers focusing of an organophosphate toxin that is related to deadly nerve agents. Her work has demonstrated that organophosphate exposure induces distinct synaptic pathology before obvious cellular damage and perhaps underlying the long-term symptoms in survivors of nerve agent exposure. The research requires super resolution technology to understand morphological changes in astrocytes that appear to influence synapse maintenance in brain slice cultures. Other professors utilized the equipment for studies of aging and lifespan of nematodes, dynamics of structural networks that modulate the neuromuscular junction, and properties of nematode-bacteria interactions. The Super Resolution Imaging Platform will support future analyses of biomolecular and cellular interactions in multiple experimental models (e.g. organotypic tissue explants, primary cell cultures, unique cell lines, and iPSC-derived neurons).
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 24, 2023
- Accession Number
- AD1223602
Entities
People
- Ben A Bahr