Source: WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY submitted to NRP
ACQUISITION OF A LIQUID SCINTILLATION COUNTER FOR THE DAVIS COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AT WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
NRI COMPETITIVE GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0194201
Grant No.
2003-35206-12859
Cumulative Award Amt.
(N/A)
Proposal No.
2002-03618
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Nov 15, 2002
Project End Date
Nov 14, 2003
Grant Year
2003
Program Code
[42.0]- (N/A)
Recipient Organization
WEST VIRGINIA UNIVERSITY
886 CHESTNUT RIDGE RD RM 202
MORGANTOWN,WV 26505-2742
Performing Department
ANIMAL & VETERINARY SCIENCE
Non Technical Summary
This research project request funds to assist in the purchase of a liquid scintillation counter for the Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Consumer Sciences at West Virginia University. Laboratories in multiple divisions within the college will use the instrument. In the Division of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Dr. Blemings would use the instrument to continue studies of amino acid oxidation with the purpose of improving the efficiency of nutrient use by farm animals, especially chickens, fish, and pigs. Also in the Division of Animal and Veterinary Sciences Dr. Wilson would be using the instrument for radioimmuno-asssays (RIA) and for nucleic acid probes. The RIA's are performed in order to assess factors which contribute to decreased reproductive performance of farm animals. Within the Division of Animal and Veterinary Sciences there are other investigators in the growth and reproductive physiology areas who would use the counter for similar analysis. In the Division of Plant and Soil Sciences, Dr. Verlinden would be using the scintillation counter for his radioactive probe synthesis. Dr. Verlinden studies the genes that regulate stress responses and senescence in plants. Finally, in the Division of Forestry, Dr. Mazik is interested in fish stress and reproductive physiology as it pertains to production aquaculture. She will use the instrument for RIAs as well. The goal of Dr. Mazik's work is to regulate the stress response in fish to diminish the effect of stress on production aquaculture.
Animal Health Component
20%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
80%
Applied
20%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
3013910102030%
3023910101050%
3063910102020%
Knowledge Area
302 - Nutrient Utilization in Animals; 306 - Environmental Stress in Animals; 301 - Reproductive Performance of Animals;

Subject Of Investigation
3910 - Cross-commodity research--multiple animal species;

Field Of Science
1010 - Nutrition and metabolism; 1020 - Physiology;
Goals / Objectives
The objective of this proposal is to acquire a liquid scintillation counter (LSC). The LSC is a core piece of equipment for laboratories involved in life science research. The LSC will replace one that is nearly 20 years old and will be used for many different reserach projects across the college.
Project Methods
The instrument will be used for many different research projects across the college. The focus of these projects are to 1) increase the efficiency of nutrient use 2) increase reproductive efficiency in farm animals 3) increase the life of flowers 4) increase the efficiency of aquaculture operations.

Progress 11/15/02 to 11/14/03

Outputs
The funds from this project were used to buy a liquid scintillation counter which is an instrument used in many different research applications for the measurement of radioactivity. A diverse group of researchers from across the Davis College use this instrument in their research. The bulk of the use is by researchers in the Division of Animal & Veterinary Sciences (A&VS)who use the instrument for studies in biochemistry, nutrition, reproductive physiology and molecular biology. Researchers in the Division of Plant and Soil Science (P&SS) use the instrument for molecular biology and plant physiology studies while researchers in the Division of Forestry use the instrument for studies of animal physiology. The instrument has been a much needed addition to the College as it has replaced a similar instrument that was 19 years old and not cost effective.

Impacts
In A&VS the instrument has been used to assess the in vitro oxidation rate of lysine in rainbow trout liver. The long term goal of these studies is increase the efficiency of nutrient use to lower production cost and make animal agriculture more ecologically friendly. A second study in A&VS used the instrument to hormone clearance. The long term goal of this research is to increase reproductive efficiency of farm animals. In P&SS the instrument has been used for the manufacture of radiolabeled probes. The long term goal of this research is to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying senescence in plants with the practical application being the extension of flower shelf-life. It is anticipated that this instrument will serve a diverse group of investigators throughout the college over the next 15 years or so.

Publications

  • Higgins, A.D., Silverstein, J.T., Wilson, M.E., Rexroad III, E.E. & Blemings, K.P. 2004. The Effect of Genetics and Starvation on Lysine Catabolism in Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) liver. FASEB J. (Abstract in press)
  • Iordachescu M., Verlinden, S. 2003. Cloning and Characterization of Three Ein3-Like cDNAs from Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus cv. Improved White Sim) Flowers. In Biology and Biotechnology of the Plant Hormone Ethylene III eds.Vendrell, M., Klee, H., Pech, J.C., Romojaro, F. NATO Science Series Vol. 349:60-61.
  • Smith, D.L., Costine, B.A. & Wilson, M.E. (2004) Effect of acetate to propionate ratio on clearnance ofprogesterone in the ovid. J. Anim. Sci. (Abstract in press).