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<p>Our goal is to develop common-use technology and physical resources in support of the research mission of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and the Department of Molecular Biology with the following objectives: Support ongoing studies of livestock disease, molecular genetics of animal disease, food safety, crop improvement, sustainable energy and science outreach, by maintaining a robust research infrastructure in the areas of molecular and cell biology and microbiology. Enable collaboration among faculty members within the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and support new faculty members by providing a functional research environment.Provide a venue for science outreach to students, teachers and the community. Achievement of Objective 1 will require the Department to provide access to and maintain autoclaves, cold rooms, and instrumentation such as spectrophotometers, PCR, qPCR, imagers, incubators, specialty freezers and other instrumentation in addition to animal facilities as described in our management plan. Objective 2 is aimed at building our human resources by (a) hiring of elite new faculty members, which is dependent on a supportive research infrastructure, and (b) building research ties to research stations and community colleges in Wyoming, which often are limited in their access to research instrumentation. Objective 3 will enable education both at K-12 as well as our community colleges by providing resources and a venue for training in the molecular life sciences. </p>
<p>NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: The Molecular Biology Department is comprised of 15 faculty members including three with joint appointments or outside assignments. All faculty members are molecular and cell biologists and microbiologists - the lines that divide these disciplines are often blurred. The departmental focus is dominated by research with the typical faculty member having a 60% research appointment. Every research program includes aspects of both basic as well as applied science. In aggregate, The Department of Molecular Biology is engaged in studies with implications for drug discovery, diseases of livestock, food safety, crop improvement and water quality, as well as science outreach. Many of these projects are collaborative with other departments and other universities. The physical and intellectual environment necessary to sustain this work and to ensure a healthy and vigorous research enterprise is based on a common set of human and physical resources. Despite the range of project titles, all of these research projects share similar needs for equipment and instrumentation. We propose to utilize Hatch funding to provide common use technology and physical resources in support of the research mission of the department and the college as outlined in this proposal. </p>