Equipment:MRI Track 2 Acquisition of a 3D X-ray microscope for advanced specimen-based organismal research

该主要研究仪器（MRI）奖将为购买x射线显微镜提供资金，以支持纽约美国自然历史博物馆（AMNH）的前沿研究。AMNH拥有170多名科学家，是全球领先的研究机构，研究生物结构、功能、系统学和进化，以及人类学、地球和行星科学。x射线显微镜是新一代成像设备，可以可视化物体的内部结构，可以分辨出千分之一毫米的小特征。该仪器将实现AMNH世界级自然历史藏品的高分辨率3D可视化，其中包括3400万科学对象，主要是生物、化石和地质标本。由此产生的研究成果将在古生物学、动物学、考古学、民族学、海洋学和矿物学等领域的广泛领域取得重大进展，包括生物体的解剖学、进化、生长、发育和功能，以及气候变化和行星系统的演化。新仪器将有助于通过理查德吉尔德研究生院和附属项目（如纽约城市大学、纽约大学、哥伦比亚大学）培训下一代科学家。它将通过允许在线共享数字数据来增加AMNH标本的可访问性。它还将为展览和公共教育项目做出贡献，通过生成重要标本的精湛3D可视化，包括微小昆虫和化石标本的微小细节，这些标本无法从保存它们的岩石中提取出来。630 Versa x射线显微镜（XRM）是一种微到纳米计算机断层扫描（CT）系统，其功能对下一代基于标本的研究至关重要，包括亚微米分辨率（真实空间分辨率低至0.5 μ m），高x射线通量允许更快的吞吐量和更高的扫描质量，传播相衬增强边缘检测和低吸收材料相似密度结构之间的区别。该仪器将通过显着提高可实现的扫描分辨率和扫描质量来扩展基于样本的研究的前沿，可以在广泛的完整样本尺寸范围内以高分辨率获得扫描。该仪器将为AMNH的研究人员以及纽约地区其他机构和联盟的附属研究人员提供重要资源。它将通过在广泛的用户群中扩展我们的研究和培训的前沿来刺激下一代的发现。它将直接促进研究项目在广泛的主题，包括哺乳动物解剖学和生理学的起源和早期进化，节肢动物的多样化，已灭绝的人类的骨骼功能，海洋酸化对海洋生物的影响，太阳系形成的过程，昆虫的气管系统，动物组织的微观结构解剖学，包括蝙蝠和鱼类在内的小体脊椎动物的功能形态学，以及许多其他。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) award will provide funds to acquire an X-ray microscope to support cutting-edge research at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York. With over 170 working scientists, the AMNH is a globally-leading research institution for the study of organismal structure, function, systematics, and evolution, as well as anthropology and the Earth and planetary sciences. The X-ray microscope is a next-generation imaging device that allows visualization of the internal structure of objects, resolving features as small as one-thousandth of a millimeter. This instrument will allow high resolution 3D visualization of AMNH’s world-class natural history collections, which includes 34 million scientific objects, primarily biological, fossil, and geological specimens. The resulting research will yield significant advancements across a wide range of topics, including the anatomy, evolution, growth, development, and function of organisms, as well as climate change and the evolution of planetary systems, across the fields of paleontology, zoology, archaeology, ethnology, oceanography, and mineralogy. The new instrument will contribute to training of the next generation of scientists via the Richard Gilder Graduate School and affiliated programs (e.g., City University of New York, New York University, Columbia University). It will increase accessibility of AMNH specimens by allowing online sharing of digital data. It will also contribute to exhibition and public educational programs by generating superb 3D visualizations of important specimens, including minute details of tiny insects and fossil specimens that cannot be extracted from the rocks they were preserved in.The 630 Versa X-ray microscope (XRM) is a micro- to nano-computed tomography (CT) system with capabilities that are critical to the next-generation of specimen-based research, including sub-micron resolution (true spatial resolution down to 0.5 µm), high X-ray flux allowing faster throughput and increased scan quality, and propagation phase-contrast to enhance edge-detection and the distinctions between structures of similar densities for low-absorbing materials. This instrument will extend the frontiers of specimen-based research by significantly increasing achievable scan resolution and the quality of scans that can be obtained at high resolutions within a wide range of intact specimen sizes. The instrument will provide an important resource for researchers at the AMNH as well as affiliated researchers across other institutions and consortia in the New York City region. It will stimulate the next generation of discoveries by expanding the frontiers of our research and training across a wide user base. It will directly contribute to research programs across a wide range of topics including the origins and early evolution of mammalian anatomy and physiology, diversification of arthropods, skeletal function of extinct hominins, effects of ocean acidification on marine organisms, processes of solar system formation, the tracheal system of insects, microstructural anatomy of animal tissues, the functional morphology of small-bodied vertebrates including bats and fishes, and many others.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.