Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

This grant is requesting funds to buy an ultracold freezer, capable of storing biological samples at -85 degrees C. This freezer will be shared by three different laboratories that are located near each other. The three research projects are as follows:1) Circadian rhythms in Neurospora. This research is aimed at answering the question: How do living things tell time? All living things bigger than bacteria, and even some bacteria, have internal clocks that drive daily rhythms in many biological processes, and these "circadian" rhythms are important in human health. We use the fungus Neurospora crassa, a common bread mould, as a model organism to study the mechanism of the clock at the molecular and biochemical level. We use mutant strains with disrupted clocks to help us identify components of the clock mechanism.2) Circadian organization of the endocrine system. This research combines the study of biological timing with endocrinology, the study of how hormones regulate physiology. We use the insect Rhodnius, and we study how hormone rhythms are controlled by a network of interacting clocks in the insect to organize daily physiological and cellular events into the ordered sequences that are essential for life.3) Regulation and interaction of proteins of meiosis. When sex cells in animals divide to make sperm or eggs, they must divide up the chromosomes correctly so that each daughter cell gets exactly half. We use the sperm-forming cells of mice to study the proteins that regulate this process. We use cloning methods to produce large amounts of these proteins to make antibodies.For the experiments in 1) and 2) above, we need to collect samples every few hours around the clock, rapidly freeze them to stop all enzyme activities, and store them in an ultracold freezer to prevent degradation of the molecules we are interested in until we are ready to process them. For all three projects, we also need to store samples of DNA, RNA and cells used for gene cloning, and chemicals that are easily degraded.