Posted On: Monday, January 12, 2015
Cell Motion Laboratories is a cutting-edge New York City based educational non-profit that:
“works towards a future in which all people have experienced the power and beauty of making a scientific discovery. We cultivate this vision by creating immersive laboratory environments in which scientists join students and the general public for hands-on scientific exploration.”
The group is staffed by PhD scientists and trained science educators dedicated to sharing their love of science with K-12 students from all backgrounds.
Dr. Ben Dubin-Thaler founded the program in 2008 to ‘test his hypothesis that, given the opportunity to use research-microscopes to perform live experiments, anyone would be excited about science and want to do more.’ The first project was the BioBus, a 1974 transit bus equipped with $100,000 worth of research-grade microscopes including light microscopes, a scanning electron microscope, and a fluorescence microscope. The overwhelming success of BioBus led to the creation of BioBase, a fixed location on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, and now a second BioBus and second BioBase are in the works.
I could go on, but it’s well worth your time to read more here.
NIGHTSEA raffled off a Model SFA Stereo Microscope Fluorescence Adapter system at the recent conference of the American Society for Cell Biology. Dr. Ben and the BioBus staff (along with the BioBus!) were in attendance, saw the NIGHTSEA system in the Electron Microscopy Sciences booth, and realized its potential to expand their use of fluorescence. Ben entered the contest, and … was the lucky winner. They received the system on Tuesday, January 6 and put it to use the very same day. The first image below shows staff scientist Dr. Latasha Wright in BioBase holding the box with the system (yes, it’s all in that box) next to a conventional stereo microscope fitted with a camera connected to a large display monitor. The second image shows the SFA installed on the microscope, illuminating a collection of rocks, some of which are fluorescent. The image is displayed on the monitor so that everyone can see it at once. Ben writes –
“We’ve got the NIGHTSEA system set up at the BioBase! It’s awesome, and we’ve already used it with students.”
Good for NightSea and good for the BioBus.
It sounds like a beginning of a great collaboration!