MRI: Acquisition of an Environmental Scanning Probe Microscope for Multidisciplinary Research, Teaching and Outreach.

从生物医学到消费电子再到国家安全，纳米科学正在为科学技术的突破做出贡献。这项主要研究仪器奖为环境原子力显微镜（AFM）的采购提供了资金，该显微镜被称为Asylum Research Cypher ES，这是一种非常通用的、高速的、高分辨率的仪器，用于在纳米尺度（十亿分之一米）上对流体中的材料和过程进行成像、探测和操作。新英格兰大学（UNE）和地区大学的教职员工和学生在生物学，海洋科学，化学，物理和生物化学将使用该仪器来研究广泛的天然和工程生物材料。该仪器将提高研究效率，并为学生提供有关最先进的显微镜技术的宝贵实践培训。新英格兰大学寻求在美国种族多元化程度最低的州之一招收多元化和有才华的学生。新英格兰大学的大多数学生都是女性，其中许多人是家里第一代上大学的人。通过接触这些服务不足的人群，该项目将在提供高质量教育和专业培训机会方面产生巨大影响。为了让学生更好地理解生物材料的结构和功能之间的关系，该项目将使用3d打印技术从AFM数据中创建可处理和触摸的纳米级结构模型。AFM和3d打印的结合为盲人或视障人士提供了一个特别令人兴奋的机会，可以将纳米结构和纳米技术实验技术引入其中。培训利用广泛的一个教职员工专业知识,包括国家级的机构在线教育卓越。庇护研究Cypher ES环境原子力显微镜（AFM）取代老化的硬件和补充现代成像方法的显微镜核心设施（MCF）在英国大学（UNE）。该显微镜将通过提供独特的区域环境扫描探针显微镜资源，提高缅因州的研究生产力和教育质量。Cypher ES将允许使用各种近场探测（超高分辨率，弹性，磁性，电和开尔文探针力）和快速扫描速率来研究各种研究问题，包括检查微生物生物膜和鞘形成，表征环境敏感蛋白质和聚合物纳米材料的地形和粘弹性特性，以及探索矿化节肢动物角质层的结构和组成。该仪器的模块化设计意味着它是可扩展的，可以根据需要添加新的功能。将通过在线、面对面和补充宏观3d打印指导的混合方式，对新能源大学的学生、教职员工进行AFM理论和实践的培训。该仪器将成为增加合作研究的一个有吸引力的工具，例如与缅因州奥罗诺大学的同事和布斯湾港的毕格罗海洋科学实验室的同事。该仪器将成为新英格兰北部生物材料表征的独特资源。

Non-technicalAcross disciplines ranging from biomedicine to consumer electronics to national security, nanoscience is contributing to breakthroughs in science and technology. This Major Research Instrumentation award provides funds for the acquisition of an environmental atomic force microscope (AFM) called the Asylum Research Cypher ES, an extremely versatile, high-speed, high-resolution instrument for imaging, probing, and manipulating materials and processes in fluids at the nanoscale (billionths of a meter). University of New England (UNE) and regional university faculty, staff, and students in biology, marine science, chemistry, physics, and biochemistry will use this instrument to study a wide range of natural and engineered biomaterials. The instrument will enhance research productivity and provide students with valuable hands-on training on state-of-the-art microscopy techniques. UNE seeks to recruit a diverse and talented student population in one of the least ethnically diverse states in the country. The majority of UNE students are women, and many represent the first generation of their family to go to college. By reaching out to this underserved population the project will make a tremendous impact in providing high quality educational and professional training opportunities. To enable students to better appreciate relationships between biomaterials structure and function, the project will use 3-D printing to create models of nanoscale structures from AFM data that can be handled and touched. The integration of AFM and 3-D printing facilitates an especially exciting opportunity in the introduction of nanoscale structures and nanotechnology experimental techniques to people who are blind or visually impaired. The training takes advantage of a broad range of UNE faculty and staff expertise, including nationally-ranked institutional excellence in online education. The Asylum Research Cypher ES environmental atomic force microscope (AFM) replaces aging hardware and complements modern imaging methodologies in the Microscope Core Facility (MCF) at the University of England (UNE). This microscope will increase research productivity and educational quality in Maine through provision of a unique regional environmental scanning probe microscopy resource. The Cypher ES will allow for the use of a wide variety of near field probing (ultra-high resolution, elastic, magnetic, electric and Kelvin probe forces) and fast scanning rates for diverse research questions including examining microbial biofilm and sheath formation, characterizing topographic and viscoelastic properties of environmentally-sensitive protein- and polymer-based nanomaterials, and exploring the architecture and composition of mineralized arthropod cuticle. The modular design of the instrument means that it is expandable to add new capabilities as needs arise. Training of UNE students, staff and faculty in AFM theory and practice will take place through a hybrid of online, face-to-face, and supplementary macroscopic 3-D printing instruction. The instrument will serve as an attractive tool to increase collaborative research, e.g., with colleagues at the University of Maine, Orono, and the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Boothbay Harbor. This instrument will be a unique resource for biomaterials characterization in northern New England.