Acquisition of a Transmission Electron Microscope to Support UCR's Accelerated Growth in the Cell/Molecular/Development Biology Program

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A grant has been awarded to Dr. James G. Baldwin at The University of California, Riverside (UCR) for a new transmission electron microscope (TEM). The research and teaching needs of this growing campus and scheduling problems on the existing microscope will be met by adding this new TEM. The new microscope is highly complementary with the existing TEM and both instruments will be housed and administered together in the campuswide Central Facility for Advanced Microscopy and Microanalysis (CFAMM) administered within the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (CNAGS). This instrument provides functionality needed by experts, yet simplicity appreciated by students and less experienced microscopists. The new microscope will be scheduled for projects that leverage its ease-of-use for diverse TEM work done by many biology researchers and students that do not require high accelerating voltage nor analytical capabilities. Flexibility and scheduling conflicts will be further addressed by equipping the microscope with an electronically controlled rotating stage (required by many Cell, Molecular and Developmental Biology [CMDB]) investigators, e.g. those using stereo pairs) and digital image capture required for most CMDB scientists and crucial for cost effective printing, storage, 3D reconstruction, and easy interfacing with the adjacent Center for Visual Computing (CVC) with which it will be linked by an existing fiber optics system. A new vacuum evaporator is also awarded and is vital for sample preparation for the electron microscope. UCR is the most rapidly growing UC campus, with the highest representation of minority students in the UC system and among the highest nationally. New faculty hires and new laboratory construction are underway to accommodate a 100% increase by 2010, with particular growth in life sciences. The new TEM is essential for research and teaching programs to keep pace with the rapidly expanding interdepartmental program in CMDB and to address a worsening scheduling crisis on the only existing modern TEM on campus and shared by both life and materials scientists. For a significant group of Federally-funded UCR researchers in the life sciences, TEM is an indispensable tool, complementary to a range of additional techniques for acquiring structural information at the cellular and sub-cellular level. These include special applications in cell biology that are relevant to basic science as well as agriculture, biomedicine, pathogenesis, mode of action of antibiotics, and exploring character changes in evolution. UCR's existing CFAMM, interfaced with the CVC, provides a unique context for the new TEM dedicated for life science/CMDB research and training. The new TEM will be the primary graduate and undergraduate TEM teaching tool for seven existing courses, and the PIs of this proposal will collaborate to develop a new training course specific to TEM techniques centered around the new instrument at the CFAMM.