The National Science Foundation is giving Illinois State University Faculty a $317, 000 grant. The money is buying a device that uses lasers to concentrate and filter cells into like batches. It's called a flow cytometer cell sorter.
Faculty and students will use the machine to do research on aging and the immune system, reptiles and turtles, bumblebee parasites, pollen grains, bird blood, and insects.
Students will get training on a device that is common in many health professions.
The feds funded only 16 percent of grant applications in this category.