CANTON — The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded St. Lawrence University a grant of more than $282,000, allowing the biology department to purchase a laser-scanning confocal microscope.

The latest NSF award means the Foundation has awarded the St. Lawrence County school more than $1 million for various faculty-led projects “over the last year,” the school said in a news release issued Sept. 12.

The most recent award of more than $282,000 will allow St. Lawrence to expand its current and future research, teaching and training in the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.

The grant will provide the funding necessary to purchase a Nikon C2+ spectral imaging confocal microscope, which will help support the research of 11 faculty and science professionals in cell and developmental biology and ecology and evolution.

“These NSF grant awards recognize the level of critical discovery being led by St. Lawrence faculty,” William L. Fox, president of St. Lawrence, said in the school’s news release. “Our faculty are increasingly pursuing research grants in both science and humanities, with a significant increase in the number of proposals being submitted, and more importantly, our success rate for awards is better than ever.”

The equipment will be made available to St. Lawrence faculty and students, along with faculty and students from the Associated Colleges of the St. Lawrence Valley.

Besides St. Lawrence, the Associated Colleges group includes Clarkson University, the State University of New York at Canton, and the State University of New York at Potsdam, according to the St. Lawrence news release.

Using the microscope
For several years, a team of St. Lawrence faculty and students have been conducting research on cerium-oxide nanoparticles, a compound which could have positive effects for neurological diseases such as multiple sclerosis; amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS); and Parkinson’s disease.

They have presented their findings in academic journals and at academic conferences, the school said.

The new microscope will “further advance” research of cerium-oxide nanoparticles as well as other research projects, Joseph Erlichman, professor and a previous chairman of the school’s science department, said.

“St. Lawrence is the only institution in northern New York that offers free access to microscopy resources to all Associated Colleges students and faculty,” Erlichman said. “Our current confocal microscope, purchased in 2001, is reaching the end of its serviceable life. The new microscope will impact over 200 St. Lawrence students annually through courses and faculty/student research projects, including over 40 SLU students immersed in confocal research methods training and/or upper-level research activities.”

The project, titled “MRI: Acquisition of Confocal Laser Scanning Microscope for Research and Training in the Biological Sciences,” comes under the direction of Erlichman as well as Ana Estevez, associate professor of biology and psychology; Cintia Hongay, assistant professor of biology at Clarkson University; Michael Temkin, associate professor of biology at St. Lawrence; and Jill Pflugheber, director of St. Lawrence’s Microscopy and Imaging Center (SLUMIC).

Additional NSF grants
In addition to the microscope grant, the National Science Foundation in August awarded two separate grants for projects led by St. Lawrence University faculty, both involving research on changes in climate.

The NSF awarded associate professor Alexander Stewart nearly $40,000 to study leaf waxes preserved in lake sediments as a way to determine past precipitation in order to better understand future changes in precipitation.

The Foundation also awarded more than $90,000 to Jon Rosales, associate professor of environmental studies, and Jessica Chapman, associate professor of statistics, who are studying remote Alaskan indigenous populations, where babies are named after storms to remember those events.

Together, with the assistance of student interns, they will generate a storm map by combining birthdates with an analysis of driftwood accumulations in order to substantiate claims by villagers that storms have intensified over recent decades.

In addition, the NSF in 2015 awarded St. Lawrence a more than $618,500 grant to create the Liberal Arts Science (LAS) Scholars Program, led by Chapman, to assist underrepresented groups pursuing STEM-related majors and careers.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com

CARTHAGE, N.Y. — Carthage Area Hospital has added a new bone-density machine to its medical-imaging department.

The hospital will use the machine to diagnose osteoporosis and assess a patient’s risk for developing fractures.

The facility on Sept. 28 held a ribbon-cutting event for the new machine, according to Sue Ward, the hospital’s medical-imaging manager.

“It’s been seven years since we had the bone-density machine … this is a great advancement and we’re glad to bring this back to this facility,” says Taylour Lynn Scanlin, marketing director at Carthage Area Hospital.

The previous machine “broke,” says Ward, and the hospital, at the time, didn’t replace it.

Scanlin joined Ward on a Sept. 28 phone interview with CNYBJ.

“A lot” of the hospital’s mammography patients pursue a bone-density screening “at the same time,” says Ward.

“They are menopausal women and they want to know their risk assessment for osteoporosis and calcium loss in their bones,” she adds.

Reason for purchase
Carthage Area Hospital noticed a decline in its mammography patients because, without the proper equipment, they had to travel to different facilities for different treatments, according to Ward.

For example, patients would travel to Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown — about a 25-minute drive away — for the procedures.

Ward contends the new machine purchase “saves patients” from driving all over the North Country to get the services they need.

“So they can just come right to Carthage, get their mammography, get their bone density, get their labs, or any other testing done in one spot,” she adds.

“The community was really requesting that [machine],” says Scanlin.

The machine also has the capability of offering pediatric imaging.

The bone-density machine cost $35,000. The Carthage Area Hospital Foundation raised $27,000 of that figure in its annual golf tournament held in late July, according to Scanlin.

“The hospital paid for the rest as approved by the board of directors and the administration,” she adds.

The medical-imaging department converted two small offices for one bone-density suite. The hospital’s plant-operations department “knocked down” a wall that separated the offices.

The new improvements won’t require any new hiring at the hospital, according to Scanlin.

The hospital started seeing patients for the bone-density screenings on Sept. 27, says Ward.

The new bone-density machine isn’t the only new advancement added to the department.

The medical-imaging department also purchased other new equipment and expanded its hours to accommodate the needs of the local community, according to an Aug. 30 news release posted on the hospital’s website.

“We also had a new installation of a GE Optima [XR]646. It’s a regular X-ray machine. That is a digital unit,” says Ward.

The machine “allows for better patient comfort,” especially for children and geriatric patients, and generates “faster scans,” the hospital said.

The department also expanded its ultrasound hours of operation to Saturdays by appointment.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com