One Giant Microscope, “Minnie” Possibilities

Meet “Minnie”—Trinity University’s new, powerful, lab-sized microscope that’s already adding a fresh lens to research projects across campus.

Thanks to a $580,000 gift from the Max and Minnie Tomerlin Voelcker Fund (“Minnie” is the device’s namesake), this Nikon NSpark confocal microscope is ready for use by about 10 research teams on campus and will play a crucial role in teaching and training the next generation of Trinity research scientists, according to associate professor and Chemistry Chair Corina Maeder, Ph.D.

Maeder says the device is a testament to Trinity’s status as a small school where big-time science happens.

“The funding recognizes that Trinity is truly a gem—a place where top research is happening,” says Maeder, who studies a rare eye disease called retinitis pigmentosa with the device. “We’re the first institution in San Antonio to have this type of device. Our science facilities are amazing! The instrumentation that we have parallels that of research-level institutions.”

Banks M. Smith, Trustee of the Voelcker Fund, states, “The Voelcker Fund gives grants for medical research to find cures for diseases. The biomedical research conducted by the faculty of Trinity University is impressive. The Voelcker Fund is pleased to purchase the new confocal microscope to support the continued excellence of Trinity University research.”

Simply put, this is the type of transformative investment that’s behind Trinity’s growing reputation as a place where sciences and the liberal arts thrive together. As the Niche’s No. 1 Liberal Arts College in Texas, it’s fitting that Trinity has a confocal microscope of this caliber. This gift is a sign of the University’s continued investment in biochem and biomed research faculty and students. And it’s a sign of the growth of Trinity’s D. R. Semmes School of Science and Engineering, boosted (and named) this year by a historic gift from the Semmes Foundation. The nation is taking note of this growth, too: Even before the announcement of the microscope, Trinity was ranked among all universities in the nation at No. 9 for Best Science Lab Facilities by The Princeton Review.

Biology professor and fellow Minnie power-user Gerard Beaudoin, Ph.D., says that Minnie is making science better both on and off campus.

“The microscope is already facilitating cross-campus collaboration between faculty in chemistry and biology, and additionally engineering sciences,” says Beaudoin, who himself collaborates on Maeder’s retinitis pigmentosa research. “We also have had a longstanding agreement with Dr. Veronica Martinez-Acosta, a developmental neurobiologist from the University of Incarnate Word, who will regularly bring her research students to use the microscope. We will continue to foster research at nearby institutions as they recruit new faculty interested in using this kind of instrument for their research.”

Minnie is just the latest investment the Voelcker Fund has made into biomedical science at Trinity. These donors have boosted career trajectories through their Young Investigator's Awards ($450,000 for three years), with past recipients including Maeder and biology professor Bethany Strunk, Ph.D.

And just as importantly, these donors also have a history of supporting the Trinity student experience, such as funding summer research for SURF students. 

Beaudoin says the students using Minnie have experiences as powerful as the device itself.

“Students are awestruck by the images produced,” Beaudoin says. “And this exposes these students to the possibilities that await them after graduation.”

Tigers Cadence McCammack ’26, Joshua Cooper ’24, and Amanda Flanagan ’25 can each attest to this type of microscope’s transformative effect on the student research experience.

Flanagan, a biology major from San Antonio who conducts research with Beaudoin and wants to get her doctorate one day, says the microscope is a tremendous resource for an undergraduate to have.

“I feel incredibly grateful to be working with something like this,” she says. “I feel like if I was at a bigger university, the labs would be filled with people that are above you. They're going to be filled with master’s students or students working on their Ph.D. But me—I’m leading my own project right now. I'm out there on a confocal microscope, not a postdoc.”

This type of experience is crucial for Tigers in the medical school pipeline, like Cooper, a biology major from Houston who is now in medical school. Cooper used an older version of the microscope while working with biology professor Jonathan King, Ph.D., gaining crucial resume-building skills. “Having access to technology like the confocal microscope gives us the potential to pursue lots of interesting research,” Cooper says. “Having resources like this gives Trinity the research power to match much bigger schools with all the benefits of a small-school liberal arts education.”

McCammack, a biology major from Dallas who works with Maeder on the retinitis pigmentosa project, wants to eventually become a physician who combines patient care with cutting-edge research. 

“I think it is amazing that we have the STEM resources we do at a small liberal arts school like Trinity,” McCammack says. “I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity to use such a cutting-edge tool as the confocal microscope because having access to these resources is equipping me with skills and experience that will be vital for my future career success.”

Even when lasering in on their research, students like McCammack can still see a brighter future, thanks to the type of support the Voelcker Fund has invested in science at Trinity.

“I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Trustees of the Voelcker Fund for their generous support of both the new confocal microscope and the RP project,” McCammack says. “I am deeply appreciative and proud that Trinity has donors who are committed to investing in our education, and I hope all donors understand the profound impact their contributions have on the students here.”