Lee University Awarded Grant for DNA System
Lee University Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics was recently awarded a grant which provides the university an opportunity to further student and faculty research in biotechnology. The award, received from LI-COR, a bioscience research company, will supply Lee with the 4300 DNA Analysis System.
The grant is a Genomics Education Matching Fund (GEMF) used to acquire DNA sequencing systems and software for use by students studying molecular biology and related fields. DNA sequencing allows the investigator to directly read the DNA code by identifying every single base in a section of DNA. Sequencing provides the most information possible, and has become the most important tool in molecular biology for addressing questions in biology.
“The DNA sequencer provides yet another instrument in our molecular biology laboratory that will allow us to better equip our students for graduate and professional work. This fully equipped facility will also allow us to competitively recruit aspiring scientists to our campus,” said Dr. Lori West, assistant professor of biology.
Lee University’s grant was based on the research and aid of West and Dr. Michael Freake, associate professor of biology.
“Understanding DNA sequencing requires assimilation of many complex molecular biology concepts. The GEMF award along with contributions from Lee University will allow us to reinforce these theoretical concepts learned in lecture with applications in the laboratory,” said West. “Just as we conduct sequencing reactions in our major’s courses, we will provide our non-majors with the opportunity to perform their own sequencing reactions in our Introduction to Biotechnology course. ”
In addition, students will be able to conduct faculty sponsored research experiments that previously were not possible without the sequencer. Since the installation at the end of May, professors have already begun conducting some experiments with research students. In fact, the equipment is already being used to monitor gene flow for local hellbender salamanders in a research project using Ledford grant students under the direction of Drs. Freake and West.
In the fall semester, students will begin mutagenesis experiments, in collaboration with Dr. Elizabeth Howell of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in which students will monitor the success of experiments through sequencing reactions.
The DNA Analysis System is used to research and develop data for biology using infrared technology. The analysis system accelerates research and improves the quality of precise data. It features a two channel detection that eliminates errors due to fluorescence overlap. Two sets of optical lasers and detectors measure fluorescence signals independently. The system also creates an image in real time and can be displayed in an Internet browser or LI-COR application software.
(Source: www.leeuniversity.edu)
