An Upgraded Scanning Electron Microscope for Organismic and Evolutionary Biology

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This award provides support for purchase of an Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESEM) equipped with a Peltier cooling stage to be used by at least 13 research groups in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology of Harvard University. This modern, multifunctional instrument will replace an existing, 25-year-old instrument which lacks the capacity for examining fully hydrated materials. The instrument will be available for use by students, research associates and faculty, insuring student training in use of a modern electron microscope. Diverse research in the areas of organismic, evolutionary, and developmental biology will utilize this new equipment. Initial uses include studies of the morphology of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria, determination of the migration pathway of neural crest cells in amphibians, and studies of the mechanisms of xylem embolism repair and root water uptake in plants. Such studies with the level of resolution provided by scanning electron microscopy were not possible until the development of instruments that did not use a low pressure or vacuum in the sample chamber.