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

My NSERC-funded program is dedicated to investigating reproductive development in dwarf mistletoes (genus Arceuthobium), parasitic flowering plants that infect economically important conifers. Techniques of microscopy are the foundation of the work my students and I do. Presently, we are investigating developmental and dispersive events of Arceuthobium americanum (lodgepole pine dwarf mistletoe) in British Columbia. As effective maturation of pollen and its dissemination govern the spread of Arceuthobium as a parasite, our work will identify key stages toward which a control program may ultimately be devised. We aim to use light microscopy (LM), fluorescence microscopy (FM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to examine developmental anatomy and wall chemistry of anthers and pollen. The only way this can be accomplished is to use a versatile microtome/ultramicrotome to prepare thin sections for LM and FM, and ultrathin sections for TEM. Students are drawn to work with me because of the excellent skills in microscopy and microtomy acquired. When I first arrived at Thompson Rivers University in 2004, I inherited a Sorvall MT-2 ultramicrotome circa 1965. This is the sole instrument my students and I have been using to obtain sections for our exciting research results published to date in good journals (e.g., Annals of Botany). I had been able to limp the Sorvall along by having it serviced regularly and performing maintenance on it myself. However, shortly after my first NSERC DG renewal in 2012, the Sorvall became unusable for all but the crudest sectioning and basic training. There is no other ultramicrotome within 200 km. To make use of the DG, we desperately need a new, modern accessorized (ultra)microtome capable of thin and ultrathin sectioning. My program threatens to stall because of the Sorvall's 'passing'. Through my NSERC DG, I proposed to train 13 undergraduate and 3 graduate students as well as contribute information that can be used to shape management decisions regarding this notorious forest pest. Such outcomes, beneficial to Canada through generation of new researchers and new information for foresters, can only be made possible through the acquisition of an (ultra)microtome.