Acquisition of Equipment for Analytical Scanning Electron Microscopy with Applications in Biology, Chemistry, Geology, and Engineering

在Fredrik Ronquist博士的指导下，佛罗里达州立大学获得了一笔拨款，用于部分支持购买带有场发射枪的扫描电子显微镜、变压样品室、冷冻转移装置和元素微量分析装置。该设备将提供许多目前在北佛罗里达地区无法获得的显微检查技术，并将由佛罗里达州立大学和佛罗里达农业文化与机械大学的生物学家、化学家、工程师和地质学家以及该地区其他大学和学院的同事使用。场发射枪允许成像具有非凡的对比度和大聚焦深度在低和高倍率。它还大大提高了在低加速电压下的性能，从而允许对未涂覆样品或在电子束中有充电和改变趋势的样品进行高倍率检查。通过引入气体来提高检测室内压力的可能性也有助于检测敏感样品。冷冻转移设备用于快速冷冻标本，以便在冷冻状态下随后转移到显微镜室。用这种设备可以观察自然状态下的未固定的冷冻材料。最后，x射线微分析设备允许分析样品表面的成分。新仪器将用于广泛的应用，包括聚合物的研究；医学工程中重要的细胞和组织细节；/果蝇突变体;恐龙、鸟类和哺乳动物的牙齿和其他骨骼结构；膜翅目昆虫（蚂蚁、黄蜂和蜜蜂）的骨骼形态学；花形态;深海沉积物中粘土和硅藻化石组合的结构。化学领域的五个研究小组正在研究基于纳米尺度操作的不同类型的新材料。新的显微镜设备将支持许多教职员工的研究，但也将用于代表性不足的群体的教育和研究培训。其他将受益于新设备的具有广泛影响的活动的例子包括Harold Kroto爵士通过维加科学信托基金（Vega science Trust）普及科学的努力，这是第一个免费的科学节目互联网广播机构，以及MorphBank项目，该项目旨在为基于图像的生物学科（如比较形态学和生物多样性研究）的国际合作提供一个网络平台。

A grant has been awarded to the Florida State University under the direction of Dr. Fredrik Ronquist for partial support of the acquisition of a scanning electron microscope with a field emission gun, a variable-pressure specimen chamber, a cryotransfer unit, and an elemental microanalysis unit. The equipment will offer a number of microscopic examination techniques that are not available today in the north Florida region and will be used by biologists, chemists, engineers, and geologists at the Florida State University and the Florida Agircultural and Mechanical University and by colleagues at other universities and colleges in the region.The field emission gun allows imaging with extraordinary contrast and large depth of focus at both low and high magnifications. It also gives greatly improved performance at low acceleration voltages, which allows high-magnification examination of uncoated samples or samples that have a tendency to charge and alter in the electron beam. The possibility of raising the pressure in the examination chamber by introducing a gas can also help in the examination of sensitive samples. The cryotransfer equipment is used for rapid freezing of a specimen for subsequent transfer in the frozen state into the microscope chamber. With this equipment it is possible to observe unfixed frozen material in its natural state. Finally, the X-ray microanalysis equipment allows analysis of the composition of the sample surface.The new instrument will be used for a wide range of applications including studies of polymers; cellular and tissue details important in medical engineering; /Drosophila/ mutants; teeth and other skeletal structures in dinosaurs, birds and mammals; skeletal morphology of hymenopterans (ants, wasps and bees); flower morphology; and structure of clays and fossil diatom assemblages in deep sea sediments. Five research groups in Chemistry are studying different types of novel materials based on nano-scale manipulation. The new microscope equipment will support the research of many faculty members but will also be used in education and research training of underrepresented groups. Other examples of activities with broad impact that will benefit from the new equipment include Sir Harold Kroto's efforts to popularize science through the Vega Science Trust, the first free Internet broadcaster of science programs, and the MorphBank project, aimed at providing a web platform for international collaboration in image-based biological disciplines such as comparative morphology and biodiversity research.