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Working together
Chemists and biologists are sharing the same lab space while researching
molecular medicine and nanobiotechnology.
- In the Roy J. Carver Laboratory for Ultrahigh Resolution Biological Microscopy,
some interesting cross-disciplinary work is ongoing.
Faculty research groups from the biological sciences and physical sciences
are working together in the lab equipped with state-of-the-art optical and
scanning probe microscopes.
"Chemists and biologists are working together on several projects,"
said Bob Doyle, assistant scientist in charge of the facility. "They're
on the same wavelength on these projects.
"If we take their knowledge and knit them together then we can go after
biological problems in a new and innovate way."
Three research groups led by Marc Porter, professor of chemistry; Edward
Yeung, Distinguished Professor of chemistry; and Phil Haydon, professor
of zoology and genetics, are currently utilizing the laboratory for experiments.
The facility will also support a planned group proposal to the U.S. Department
of Energy for biomedical imaging, involving faculty from the departments
of biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology; chemistry, and zoology-genetics.
A long-term goal is to involve researchers both within Iowa State and those
outside the institution in experiments conducted at the laboratory.
"The laboratory was built with interdisciplinary interaction at its
heart," Doyle said. "No single discipline has the knowledge to
go after the problems we're looking at today. We must have teams of researchers
from different areas to get the answers."
The Carver Laboratory for Ultrahigh Resolution Biological Microscopy consists
of several different rooms including a chemistry room, a chemistry prep
room, electronics, biology prep room and a culture room where cells are
grown.
The state-of-the-art equipment has moved Iowa State researchers into another
area.
"There can be four separate research areas ongoing at the same time,"
Doyle said. "The idea is for people to work together in order to come
up with ideas
that would not be obvious to one discipline or another but comes to light
because of the interaction.
"We want to get a level of synergy going where people are constantly
thinking, experimenting and solving problems."
"The Carver Lab is uniquely positioned at the interface of chemistry
and biology," said Pat Thiel, professor and chair of the chemistry
department. "As such, it will help to launch us into the midst of the
current research 'hot spots' of molecular medicine and nanobiotechnology."
A $900,000 grant from the Roy J. Carver Foundation provided the funding
for the new facility.
Around LAS
January 8-14, 2001
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