MRI-Consortium: Development of a Multimode Microscope for Imaging Structure and Dynamics of Soft Materials

0923054奥登堡海洋生物实验室“该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案(公法111-5)资助的。”技术概述：该项目旨在开发一种多模光学显微镜，它将从不同角度和跨多个长度尺度同时揭示软材料和生物材料的结构和动力学。该仪器将以倒置光学显微镜为中心，将有以下四种相互兼容的模式：(1)基于红外激光的全息光学镊子，(2)能够以毫秒时间分辨率和纳米空间分辨率定位单分子的表观荧光显微镜，(3)定量偏振显微镜，它将显示可用可见光获得的最高空间分辨率的2D双折射图，或以较低的空间分辨率显示3D双折射图，以及(4)双视角成像。这种新的多模显微镜将用于研究广泛的软和生物材料，包括由手性相互作用驱动形成的自组装非两亲性膜、真核生物鞭毛的自发振荡、吸附在硬壁上的半柔性聚合物的动力学和结构，以及生物聚合物胶原的体内合成和表达。拟议中的仪器将由布兰迪斯大学和位于马萨诸塞州伍兹霍尔的海洋生物实验室密切合作开发。拟议仪器的运作将由布兰代斯的材料研究科学和工程中心提供支持。将特别努力开发一门新的以光学和显微镜为重点的实验课程，使本科生和研究生能够有效地使用多模显微镜。莱曼摘要：光学显微镜使用可见光直接成像各种软材料的结构和动力学，如油漆、泡沫、凝胶和液晶。在过去的几十年里，已经发展了各种专门的光学显微镜模式，每种模式都揭示了被检查材料的某些方面。例如，明场显微镜揭示了整个微米级组合的结构和动力学，荧光显微镜显示了这种组合中单个组件的动态，偏振显微镜显示了任何给定结构中分子的取向，激光镊子能够研究这些组合如何对外力做出反应。到目前为止，大多数软材料都是用单模或双模显微镜进行检查的。该项目旨在开发一种新型的多模显微镜，它将能够同时检查所有四种不同模式的材料：明场显微镜、荧光显微镜、定量偏振显微镜和全息激光镊子。将特别注意确保每个单元的性能不会因其他模式的存在而受到影响。多模式显微镜的发展将使实验能够在多个长度尺度上关联材料的行为，从而将提供基本的洞察，以了解材料的集体属性，如其平衡形状和弹性是如何从单个组件的相互作用中产生的。拟议中的仪器将由布兰迪斯大学和位于马萨诸塞州伍兹霍尔的海洋生物实验室密切合作开发。拟议仪器的运作将由布兰代斯的材料研究科学和工程中心提供支持。将特别努力开发一门以光学和显微镜为重点的新型实验课程，使本科生和研究生能够有效地使用多模显微镜。

0923054OldenbourgMarine Biological Laboratory"This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)."Technical Summary: This project aims to develop a multimode optical microscope which will simultaneously reveal the structure and dynamics of soft and biological materials from various perspectives and across multiple length scales. The proposed instrument will be centered around an inverted optical microscope and will have the following four mutually compatible modalities: (1) holographic optical tweezer based on an infrared laser, (2) epi-fluorescecence microscope capable of localizing single molecules with millisecond temporal resolution and nanometer spatial resolution, (3) quantitative polarization microscopy which will reveal either 2D birefringence maps at the highest spatial resolution attainable with visible light or 3D birefringence maps at a reduced spatial resolution and (4) dual view imaging. The new multimode microscope will be used to examine a broad range of soft and biological materials including self-assembled non-amphiphilic membranes whose formation is driven by chiral interactions, spontaneously oscillating eukaryotic flagella, dynamics and structure of semi-flexible polymers absorbed onto a hard wall and synthesis and expression of biopolymer collagen in vivo. The proposed instrument will be developed in a close collaboration between Brandeis University and the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA. The operation of the proposed instrument will be supported by the Material Research Science and Engineering Center at Brandeis. Special effort will be taken to develop a novel experimental course focused on optics and microscopy, which will enable undergraduate and graduate students to effectively use the multimode microscope.Layman Summary: Optical microscopy uses visible light to directly image the structure and dynamics of various soft materials such as paints, foams, gels and liquid crystals. Over the past few decades various specialized modalities of optical microscopy have been developed, with each modality revealing certain aspects of the material under examination. For example, brightfield microscopy reveals the structure and dynamics of entire micron sized assemblages, fluorescence microscopy yields the dynamics of individual components within such an assemblage, polarization microscopy indicates the orientation of molecules within any given structure and laser tweezers enable studies of how these assemblages respond to external force. So far most soft materials have been examined with either single or dual mode microscopes. This project aims to develop a novel multimode microscope which will enable simultaneous examination of materials with all four different modalities: brightfield microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, quantitative polarization microscopy and holographic laser tweezers. Special care will be taken to ensure that the performance of each module is not compromised by the presence of other modalities. Development of the multimode microscope will enable experiments that will correlate behavior of materials across multiple length scales and will thus provide essential insight into how collective properties of a material such as its equilibrium shape and elasticity arises from interactions of individual components. The proposed instrument will be developed in a close collaboration between Brandeis University and the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA. The operation of the proposed instrument will be supported by the Material Research Science and Engineering Center at Brandeis. Special effort will be taken to develop a novel experimental course focused on optics and microscopy, which will enable undergraduate and graduate students to effectively use the multimode microscope.