New York Medical College (NYMC) in Valhalla has been awarded a grant of $594,269 from the National Institutes of Health S10 Instrumentation Program. The money will go toward the purchase of a high-resolution confocal microscope for the college to use in its biomedical research.
A confocal microscope uses a point of light that is scanned across the specimen being studied to build an image and can be set up to look at an object layer by layer, rather than having a light source that floods the whole specimen as when using an ordinary microscope. Confocal microscopes can create high-resolution 2-D or 3-D images of specimens.
“The NIH S10 Instrumentation Grant was a collaboration among nearly 20 NYMC faculty with active research programs (most funded by the NIH),” said Dana Mordue, associate professor of microbiology and immunology at NYMC.
“We are grateful to the NIH for their investment in research at NYMC. The Shared Instrumentation Grant will allow us to enhance the research/education mission of NYMC through the acquisition of a state-of-the-art high-resolution confocal imaging system that is essential core instrumentation for the college’s current and future biomedical research programs.”
The grant was announced by U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey who said, “The Covid-19 pandemic has shown us the importance of investing in biomedical research. Understanding how to combat, treat and cure new diseases like Covid-19 and those that have plagued us for decades such as Alzheimer’s has never been more important.”
The House Appropriations Committee that Lowey chairs voted for a $5.5 billion increase in the NIH budget for fiscal year 2021 to $46.96 billion. President Trump had proposed a $3 billion cut in the NIH budget.
