Enhancing Biomedical Research and Education Capacity at a Rural PUI Through Acquisition of an Attune Cytpix Flow Cytometer - The University of West Alabama (UWA), a rural, predominantly undergraduate, and resource-limited institution, seeks funding to acquire the Attune™ CytPix™ (BRV6Y Package) Flow Cytometer, a state-of-the-art instrument designed to provide high-throughput, high-precision flow cytometry analysis. This equipment is essential for advancing our research capabilities in cellular analysis, enabling us to perform detailed image-assisted flow cytometry with unprecedented accuracy and efficiency. It combines up to 14 fluorescence channels and integrated brightfield imaging, allowing simultaneous detection of cell surface markers, intracellular proteins, apoptosis, cytokines, DNA content, and fluorescent reporters. The need for this instrument is both urgent and foundational. UWA lacks a flow cytometer, limiting faculty and students' ability to perform high-throughput cellular analysis. Ongoing research in host-microbe interactions, immunophenotyping, phagocytosis, genome size variation, and stress signaling is hindered by this gap, restricting data generation, undermining student training, and preventing competitive NIH proposals. Most faculty are early-career investigators, and UWA has never received NIH funding and has minimal funding from NSF. Acquisition of the Attune CytPix will transform UWA's research by providing essential infrastructure for studies in plant stress, fungal symbiosis, amphibian immunity, and microbial resistance. It will enhance NIH-aligned Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (CURE) programs like SEA-PHAGES and Molecule to Microbe, engaging over sixty undergraduates annually in hands-on research and supporting thesis projects in the M.S. in Conservation Biology program through advanced training in fluorescence-based cell analysis. The instrument will operate as a shared core facility, accessible across departments and to partner PUIs in the region. Its integration into the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences' Strategic Plan for STEM Growth ensures long-term sustainability through dedicated faculty oversight, institutional maintenance support, and a centralized scheduling and usage tracking system. By enabling advanced data acquisition, fostering collaborations, and strengthening faculty competitiveness for R15 and R01 grants, this proposal directly advances NIH's mission to seek fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and to apply that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability.
