MRI: Development of a Cryogenic Sample-Preparation Instrument (NU CRYOCLUSTER)

MRI：低温样品制备仪器 (NU CRYOCLUSTER) 的开发

• 批准号: 1229693
• 负责人: Derk Joester
• 金额: $ 79.95万
• 依托单位: Northwestern University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-09-01 至 2016-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1229693&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; Development; Cryogenic; Sample; Preparation

This award to Northwestern University is for the development of a versatile, high-throughput instrument for sample preparation of frozen-hydrated soft, bio, and hybrid materials for imaging. The new instrument called CRYOTIGM for cryo-triple broad-beam ion gun milling and freeze-etching/coating will be developed in collaboration with Leica Microsystems. The history of microscopy is a history of human progress fueled by the ability to image, imagine, and then create at ever-smaller length scale. As man-made materials become more similar to the biological structures that inspire them, they increasingly combine nano-sized hard and soft, synthetic and biological components. The multi-disciplinary project team at Northwestern University is tackling cross-cutting research ranging from complex fluids to self-assembling hybrid nanostructures and from inorganic pollutants in the environment to chemical imaging of living tissues. Their objective is to solve a critical roadblock encountered in these research projects, namely, that these samples cannot be dried for imaging without changing the very structures they try to understand and control. The new CRYOTIGM instrument will become the centerpiece of the Northwestern University CRYOCLUSTER, a comprehensive cryogenic sample preparation facility embedded in the open-access NUANCE shared instrumentation facility. The instrument will be used in sample preparation for a broad range of imaging instrumentation at Northwestern University and the Advanced Photon Source. The collaboration with Leica will speed commercialization of the next generation of cryogenic sample preparation instruments. The Northwestern CRYOCLUSTER will be at the core of multiple educational and outreach programs, including a novel, hands-on undergraduate level class titled 'Multiscale Hierarchy in Physical and Life Sciences', and an outreach program developed together with the Chicago Botanic Garden.

西北大学获得该奖项的目的是开发一种多功能、高通量仪器，用于冷冻水合软材料、生物材料和混合材料的成像样品制备。 将与徕卡显微系统公司合作开发用于冷冻三重宽束离子枪铣削和冷冻蚀刻/涂层的名为 CRYOTIGM 的新仪器。 显微镜的历史是人类进步的历史，其推动力是成像、想象，然后以更小的长度尺度进行创造。随着人造材料变得越来越类似于激发它们的生物结构，它们越来越多地结合纳米级的硬质和软质、合成和生物成分。西北大学的多学科项目团队正在开展跨领域研究，从复杂流体到自组装混合纳米结构，从环境中的无机污染物到活体组织的化学成像。他们的目标是解决这些研究项目中遇到的一个关键障碍，即如果不改变他们试图理解和控制的结构，就无法干燥这些样品以进行成像。新型 CRYOTIGM 仪器将成为西北大学 CRYOCLUSTER 的核心，CRYOCLUSTER 是嵌入开放式 NUANCE 共享仪器设施中的综合低温样品制备设施。 该仪器将用于西北大学和先进光子源的各种成像仪器的样品制备。 与徕卡的合作将加速下一代低温样品制备仪器的商业化。 西北大学 CRYOCLUSTER 将成为多个教育和外展项目的核心，包括一个名为“物理和生命科学的多尺度层次结构”的新颖的本科实践课程，以及与芝加哥植物园共同开发的外展项目。