Sep 23 2016
NIGHTSEA, creators and manufacturers of the innovative Stereo Microscope Fluorescence Adapter (SFA), and Electron Microscopy Sciences (EMS) are pleased to award the second annual KEY Award for New Faculty to Dr. Sarah Petersen of Kenyon College. Dr. Petersen, the new Ashby Denoon Assistant Professor of Neuroscience, will receive a NIGHTSEA SFA outfitted with two excitation/emission combinations plus $750 in supplies from the EMS catalog.
The KEY Award was instituted by NIGHTSEA founder Dr. Charles Mazel to acknowledge his own mentors and to give back to science. Dr. Petersen continues that tradition. As she explains, "Kenyon College is a small liberal arts, undergraduate college, with limited research resources relative to larger research institutions. Nonetheless, I am confident that my undergraduates are capable of top-tier quality work with the right resources.” She plans to make the SFA one of those resources, using it in both her undergraduate classroom and in research to identify novel genetic factors for nervous system development and to characterize small molecules that drive the generation of the myelin sheath that protects nerves. Her curriculum and research projects are designed to provide students with a background in genetics, developmental and molecular biology, pharmacology and neuroscience that will prepare them for careers in science, medicine, Pharma, and health policy. A key goal: to help students frame better questions with which to investigate the world.
In addition, Dr. Petersen plans to use the SFA out in the community through her department’s Neuroscience Club and in partnership with the Knox County and Wiggin Street School systems, as well as the Science Play-Space Initiative (SPI) Spot in neighboring Mt. Vernon, Ohio. “I love the fact that the SFA is so portable. Now I can actually bring zebrafish demonstrations to the children and parents. It’s much more exciting than static photos or even videos.”
Dr. Petersen recently completed her post-doc at Washington University (St. Louis) under Dr. Kelly Monk and has been awarded the tenure track Ashby Denoon Assistant Professorship in Neuroscience at Kenyon College in Ohio. Her research uses the zebrafish model to understand the relationships between neurons and glia and their environments during neurodevelopment. She is also the course coordinator of the Zebrafish Development and Genetics Course at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) at Woods Hole, MA.
To learn more about the award and the SFA, visit http://www.nightsea.com/sfa-sharing/key-award-winner..