| NSF Org: |
DBI Division of Biological Infrastructure |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | August 23, 2017 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 23, 2017 |
| Award Number: | 1726561 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Robert Fleischmann
DBI Division of Biological Infrastructure BIO Directorate for Biological Sciences |
| Start Date: | September 1, 2017 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2021 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $354,758.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $354,758.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
216 MONTANA HALL BOZEMAN MT US 59717 (406)994-2381 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
309 Montana Hall Bozeman MT US 59717-2470 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | Major Research Instrumentation |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.074 |
ABSTRACT
An award is made to Montana State University (MSU) to acquire a Confocal Raman microscope with cell-sorting ability. The Center for Biofilm Engineering at MSU, where the requested instrument will be located, is a student-focused research center of excellence that was originally funded by the NSF-ERC program. The Center serves a key role, both nationally and internationally, in training biofilm researchers and also has a strong track record of broadening the participation of women and Native Americans in engineering and science through its research programs that emphasize hands-on research education. Currently, one of the most pressing challenges in microbiology is to identify roles for individual microorganisms in complex, native habitats. Raman microscopy is a novel way to study the contribution of individual microbes in complex environments that range from human and environmental health to agricultural productivity and ecosystem functioning.
Raman is a vibrational spectroscopic method that provides a fingerprint of the molecular composition of a sample. A cell's Raman spectrum contains information about its identity, physiological state, metabolic activity, and health/disease state. MSU faculty and students will use the Raman microscope to characterize the physiology, activity, and ecology of cultivated and uncultivated microbes in their native state in a large number of ecosystems, including geothermal springs, deep-sea sediment, and industrially and medically relevant biofilms. The ability to use Raman for fast and non-destructive analyses will allow living cells to be analyzed. This will enable downstream experiments such as cell separation followed by molecular analyses. The acquisition of this instrument enables the expansion of MSU faculty into novel research trajectories and help them transition the field of microbiome research from correlative studies to causal understanding of microbial function.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Supported by the NSF Major Research Instrumentation program, a Confocal Raman microscope with cell sorting ability was installed in the Center for Biofilm Engineering on the campus of Montana State University (Bozeman) in January 2019.
Raman spectroscopy is a non-destructive vibrational spectroscopic method that provides a fingerprint of the molecular composition of a sample. It can be used to study samples at cellular resolution and provide information about a cell?s chemical make-up, physiological state, and metabolic activity. Designed for microbiological research applications, the newly installed Raman microscope is among a very small number of instruments in the nation that enable researchers to study life via Raman spectroscopy at sub-micrometer resolution while at the same time carrying all the cabilities of a fluorescence microscope, and allowing researchers to separate cells via laser tweezers, if desired.
At this early stage, the instrument is mainly used by researchers working on problems in environmental microbiology, astrobiology, biofilm research, biological engineering, and material sciences. Research highlights include the study of extremophilic microbes living in hot springs of Yellowstone National Park, microbes adapted to the extreme cold conditions in glacial ice, microbes capable of producing intracellular minerals (calcium carbonate), bacteria capable of orienting themselves in Earth?s geomagnetic field via the use of intracellular chains of paramagnetic greigite crystals (magnetosomes), mixed archaeal-bacterial biofilms of relevance to astrobiology, and the metabolic response of Escherichia coli and other model bacteria to Arsenic stress.
So far, 21 researchers have been trained in the use of the instrument, including six undergraduate students, seven graduate students, and five postdoctoral scholars. 52% of the Raman microscope users were female. In the two-and-half years the instrument has been on campus, it has helped in the acquisition of $11.3M in additional funding from federal and private organizations, and has led to five peer-reviewed publications as well as 26 oral or poster presentations at national and international conferences or departmental seminars.
Montana State University encourages any researchers interested in using Raman microspectroscopy to contact the Center for Biofilm Engineering?s Imaging Core Manager to discuss use of the instrument.
Last Modified: 09/15/2021
Modified by: Roland Hatzenpichler
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