CANTON — The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded St. Lawrence University a grant of more than $282,000, allowing the biology department to purchase a laser-scanning confocal microscope. The latest NSF award means the Foundation has awarded the St. Lawrence County school more than $1 million for various faculty-led projects “over the last year,” the […]
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CANTON — The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded St. Lawrence University a grant of more than $282,000, allowing the biology department to purchase a laser-scanning confocal microscope.
The latest NSF award means the Foundation has awarded the St. Lawrence County school more than $1 million for various faculty-led projects “over the last year,” the school said in a news release issued Sept. 12.
The most recent award of more than $282,000 will allow St. Lawrence to expand its current and future research, teaching and training in the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.
The grant will provide the funding necessary to purchase a Nikon C2+ spectral imaging confocal microscope, which will help support the research of 11 faculty and science professionals in cell and developmental biology and ecology and evolution.
“These NSF grant awards recognize the level of critical discovery being led by St. Lawrence faculty,” William L. Fox, president of St. Lawrence, said in the school’s news release. “Our faculty are increasingly pursuing research grants in both science and humanities, with a significant increase in the number of proposals being submitted, and more importantly, our success rate for awards is better than ever.”
The equipment will be made available to St. Lawrence faculty and students, along with faculty and students from the Associated Colleges of the St. Lawrence Valley.
Besides St. Lawrence, the Associated Colleges group includes Clarkson University, the State University of New York at Canton, and the State University of New York at Potsdam, according to the St. Lawrence news release.
Using the microscope
For several years, a team of St. Lawrence faculty and students have been conducting research on cerium-oxide nanoparticles, a compound which could have positive effects for neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS); and Parkinson’s disease.
They have presented their findings in academic journals and at academic conferences, the school said.
The new microscope will “further advance” research of cerium-oxide nanoparticles as well as other research projects, Joseph Erlichman, professor and a previous chairman of the school’s science department, said.
“St. Lawrence is the only institution in northern New York that offers free access to microscopy resources to all Associated Colleges students and faculty,” Erlichman said. “Our current confocal microscope, purchased in 2001, is reaching the end of its serviceable life. The new microscope will impact over 200 St. Lawrence students annually through courses and faculty/student research projects, including over 40 SLU students immersed in confocal research methods training and/or upper-level research activities.”
The project, titled “MRI: Acquisition of Confocal Laser Scanning Microscope for Research and Training in the Biological Sciences,” comes under the direction of Erlichman as well as Ana Estevez, associate professor of biology and psychology; Cintia Hongay, assistant professor of biology at Clarkson University; Michael Temkin, associate professor of biology at St. Lawrence; and Jill Pflugheber, director of St. Lawrence’s Microscopy and Imaging Center (SLUMIC).
Additional NSF grants
In addition to the microscope grant, the National Science Foundation in August awarded two separate grants for projects led by St. Lawrence University faculty, both involving research on changes in climate.
The NSF awarded associate professor Alexander Stewart nearly $40,000 to study leaf waxes preserved in lake sediments as a way to determine past precipitation in order to better understand future changes in precipitation.
The Foundation also awarded more than $90,000 to Jon Rosales, associate professor of environmental studies, and Jessica Chapman, associate professor of statistics, who are studying remote Alaskan indigenous populations, where babies are named after storms to remember those events.
Together, with the assistance of student interns, they will generate a storm map by combining birthdates with an analysis of driftwood accumulations in order to substantiate claims by villagers that storms have intensified over recent decades.
In addition, the NSF in 2015 awarded St. Lawrence a more than $618,500 grant to create the Liberal Arts Science (LAS) Scholars Program, led by Chapman, to assist underrepresented groups pursuing STEM-related majors and careers.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com