Acquisition of a Cryostage and Transfer System to Characterize Biological Systems and Frozen Materials with Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy

采购低温台和转移系统，通过环境扫描电子显微镜表征生物系统和冷冻材料

• 批准号: 0216480
• 负责人: Patricia Holden
• 金额: $ 10.91万
• 依托单位: University of California-Santa Barbara
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-07-15 至 2005-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0216480&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Acquisition; Cryostage; Transfer; System; Characterize

Acquisition of a Cryostage and Transfer System to Characterize Biological Systems and Frozen Materials with Environmental Scanning Electron MicroscopyA grant has been awarded to Dr. Patricia A. Holden and colleagues at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) for purchasing equipment to look at the fine structure of frozen materials. The equipment, a Cryostage and Transfer System, will be mounted on an environmental scanning electron microscope that UCSB acquired through a previous NSF award. The combined system supports every aspect of modern environmental, biomolecular, bioengineering and materials sciences. With an environmental scanning electron microscope, researchers can observe complicated biological, geological and manmade materials without having to damage the samples by coating or drying beforehand. The addition of the cryostage and transfer system allows scientists to look at snow or ice, or to freeze biological tissues and look at them while frozen. UCSB scientists and engineers will now be able to work with frozen samples of all types and thereby learn about the real, unaltered structure of important, delicate materials.Long term, many projects will use the CST-ESEM. Initial projects include:Discovering how much water is held by bacterial colonies in soil aggregates by freezing, fracturing and observing internal water. We will study temperate and tundra soils to learn about how bacteria live in each type of soil. Observing bonding of ice crystals, called sintering. Sintering, or lack of sintering, controls avalanche hazard in alpine regions.Determining the impurities in snow. Snow contains atmospheric pollutants that are released with initial melting.Freezing bacteria that have been tagged with special identifying molecules. We can learn where and how the tags attach and thereby study how pollutants interact with bacteria.Learning how new "tunable" biological materials change over time by freezing and imaging them at different times in their development. Such materials have promise for new artificial tissues, adhesives, and improved drug-delivery.The broad significance of acquiring the cryostage for our microscope is multifold. First, researchers from UCSB and beyond will use this instrument to study socially relevant themes such as pollutant biodegradation by soil bacteria, avalanche formation, release of concentrated pollutants in snowmelt, speculations about extraterrestrial life, likely changes that global warming will cause, and the next generation of biomedical materials and devices. Second, we will teach many students how to acquire state-of-the-art data so they can develop into the next generation of well-trained environmental and medical problem-solvers. Third, we will advance the research infrastructure nationally because ours will be one of the first environmental scanning electron microscopes with a cryostage in the USA. Finally, we will attract and help researchers from UCSB, the local region, and around the world, thus enlarging the influence of our research infrastructure.

采购冷冻台和传输系统，通过环境扫描电子显微镜表征生物系统和冷冻材料 加州大学圣塔芭芭拉分校 (UCSB) 的 Patricia A. Holden 博士及其同事获得了一笔赠款，用于购买设备来观察冷冻材料的精细结构。 该设备是冷冻台和传输系统，将安装在 UCSB 通过之前的 NSF 奖项获得的环境扫描电子显微镜上。 该组合系统支持现代环境、生物分子、生物工程和材料科学的各个方面。利用环境扫描电子显微镜，研究人员可以观察复杂的生物、地质和人造材料，而无需通过预先涂层或干燥来损坏样品。 添加冷冻台和传输系统使科学家能够观察雪或冰，或者冷冻生物组织并在冷冻时观察它们。 UCSB 的科学家和工程师现在将能够处理所有类型的冷冻样品，从而了解重要、精致材料的真实的、未改变的结构。从长远来看，许多项目将使用 CST-ESEM。 最初的项目包括：通过冷冻、压裂和观察内部水来发现土壤团聚体中细菌菌落持有多少水。 我们将研究温带和苔原土壤，以了解细菌如何在每种类型的土壤中生存。观察冰晶的结合，称为烧结。 烧结或不烧结可控制高寒地区的雪崩危险。测定雪中的杂质。 雪中​​含有初始融化时释放的大气污染物。冷冻细菌已被特殊识别分子标记。我们可以了解标签的附着位置和方式，从而研究污染物如何与细菌相互作用。通过在其发育的不同时期对其进行冷冻和成像，了解新的“可调节”生物材料如何随时间变化。 此类材料有望用于新型人造组织、粘合剂和改进的药物输送。为我们的显微镜配备低温台具有多重意义。 首先，加州大学圣巴巴拉分校及其他机构的研究人员将使用该仪器来研究与社会相关的主题，例如土壤细菌对污染物的生物降解、雪崩的形成、融雪中浓缩污染物的释放、对外星生命的猜测、全球变暖可能导致的变化，以及下一代生物医学材料和设备。 其次，我们将教许多学生如何获取最先进的数据，以便他们能够发展成为下一代训练有素的环境和医疗问题解决者。 第三，我们将在全国范围内推进研究基础设施，因为我们的显微镜将是美国第一批配备低温台的环境扫描电子显微镜之一。 最后，我们将吸引和帮助来自加州大学圣巴巴拉分校、当地以及世界各地的研究人员，从而扩大我们研究基础设施的影响力。