Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

The world beyond what is visible to our naked eye is beautiful and full of secrets. With microscopy, a part of that world can be unlocked so that biologists can measure, manipulate, and marvel at the building blocks of life. We are five comparative physiologists who use microscopy every day to understand the structure-function relationships that connect tissues and cells to physiological and organismal processes. Such connections are critical to building a mechanistic understanding of how animals cope with environmental stressors through phenotypic plasticity and adaptation, and these topics are at the core of our five research programs. This proposal is for a new Nikon Eclipse Ni-E compound fluorescent microscope and advanced image analysis workstation which is urgently needed to replace two obsolete and failing microscopes and associated analysis software in our labs. This versatile microscope and software upgrade will advance our imaging experiments using powerful new processing and analytical tools driven by artificial intelligence and machine learning. We will use this system to acquire high-resolution, multi-dimensional images of tissues that will accelerate our research towards: (1) defining the cellular pathways that regulate stress-induced changes to neurogenesis and the organismal consequences of their perturbation; (2) determining how endocrine factors control and mitigate adverse effects of environmental stressors; (3) characterizing the role of the extracellular matrix in regulating heart function during thermal acclimation; (4) identifying the role of neuroplasticity in matching animal phenotype with environment; and (5) connecting early-life experiences with neural development and behaviour in wild animals. The requested imaging system will complement existing equipment and allow us to integrate detailed, quantitative histological analyses with endpoints that span from molecular to organismal levels. This approach helps us build a comprehensive understanding of animal physiology and offers a rich environment for training and discovery.