Abstract
This exchange is for travel and research support for a new collaborative project aiming to expand the utility of deep UV fluorescence microscopy techniques for working with environmental samples. Specifically, we propose to test the applicability of common fluorophore-labeled oligonucleotides, often used in environmental microbiology studies to determine the abundance of particular microbial groups, to sample scanning with current deep UV microscopes. We predict that some fluorophores should generate unique spectral signatures with deep UV excitation, and that these signatures could be utilized for mapping the distribution of specific microbial groups targeted with oligonucleotide-fluorophore probes. If successful, the combination of group-specific labeling of cells with deep UV fluorescence scanning will provide a powerful new tool for the C-DEBI community.