Research Infrastructure: Mid-scale RI-1 (MI:IP): X-rays for Life Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Agriculture, and Plant sciences (XLEAP)

研究基础设施：中型 RI-1 (MI:IP)：用于生命科学、环境科学、农业和植物科学的 X 射线 (XLEAP)

• 批准号: 2330043
• 负责人: Joel Brock
• 金额: $ 1999.93万
• 依托单位: Cornell University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Cooperative Agreement
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-04-01 至 2029-03-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2330043&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Research; Infrastructure; Mid; scale; RI

Support from this award will allow for construction of a new, world-leading synchrotron beamline delivering X-rays for Life, Environmental, Agricultural, and Plant sciences (XLEAP) at the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS). The XLEAP facility will provide users with a micro-focused, energy-tunable, highly flexible "X-ray Microscope" and custom plant growth chambers for studying living systems in as close to natural conditions as possible. The XLEAP instrument will provide researchers a unique combination of x-ray techniques including 2D and 3D elemental imaging modes, oxidation state measurements, and complementary non-x-ray microscopy. Together, these new resources will enable researchers to ask and answer entirely new questions about how plants take up, transport, and use metals and micronutrients; how plants respond to environmental stimuli like bacteria, microplastics, and climate; how metals are transformed in soil degradation processes and at the soil-root interface; and how metals and micronutrients are taken up and stored in marine plant and animal life. These research questions are critical to efforts to develop nutritious and climate resilient crops, improve agricultural practices, and reduce human impacts on the environment. XLEAP will leverage a relationship with the Cornell School of Integrative Plant Sciences to engage its future user community during construction. Furthermore, a partnership between Cornell and the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) will allow four UTEP graduate students to gain hands-on training in project management and cutting-edge x-ray techniques as they perform pilot projects that help commission XLEAP's capabilities.XLEAP will provide a unique combination of capabilities, including (1) both high flux and high-energy-resolution submicron modes, (2) sub-micron focused x-rays from 5-30 keV, (3) = 1 µm focused x-rays from 30-70 keV, (4) an open sample area accommodating custom in-situ plant growth chambers and rhizo-boxes as well as a cryostat, (5) CHESS-developed 3D confocal micro-x-ray fluorescence (XRF), and (6) dedicated optical microscopy integrated with x-ray microscopy workflows. The facility will also include an on-site growth chamber for controlled environments during beamtime, as well as dedicated sample preparation facilities (stereomicroscope, microtome, cryo-microtome) for room-temperature and frozen hydrated tissues. XLEAP will offer XRF imaging, tomography, and confocal modes; x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) in time-resolved or spatially resolved modes; and micro- x-ray diffraction (XRD) imaging. Combinations (e.g. XRF + XRD) and rapid switches between these modes (e.g. from XRF to XAS) will be important in the design and construction of the beamline. The ability to study living plants in-situ in a customized growth chamber on the beamline will enable researchers to examine genotype-phenotype relationships in non-stressed tissues. Microfocused x-rays at energies 40 keV and cutting-edge detectors with low per-pixel dwell times will minimize radiation dose and damage to living tissue, enabling study of dynamic changes in living tissues on multiple time scales. High energies will offer high-sensitivity unambiguous measurements of high-Z elements like iodine and rare earth elements. In the 5-30 keV range, submicron x-rays will enable cellular-level studies.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.

该奖项的支持将允许在康奈尔高能同步加速器源（CHESS）建造一条新的、世界领先的同步加速器光束线，为生命、环境、农业和植物科学（XLEAP）提供X射线。XLEAP设施将为用户提供微聚焦、能量可调、高度灵活的“X射线显微镜”和定制的植物生长室，以便在尽可能接近自然条件下研究生命系统。XLEAP仪器将为研究人员提供独特的X射线技术组合，包括2D和3D元素成像模式，氧化态测量和互补的非X射线显微镜。总之，这些新资源将使研究人员能够提出和回答关于植物如何吸收，运输和使用金属和微量营养素的全新问题;植物如何对细菌，微塑料和气候等环境刺激做出反应;金属如何在土壤降解过程中和土壤-根界面转化;以及金属和微量营养素如何在海洋植物和动物中吸收和储存。这些研究问题对于开发营养和气候适应性作物，改善农业实践和减少人类对环境的影响至关重要。XLEAP将利用与康奈尔大学综合植物科学学院的关系，在建设期间吸引其未来的用户社区。此外，康奈尔大学和德克萨斯大学埃尔帕索分校（UTEP）之间的合作将使四名UTEP研究生在执行有助于委托XLEAP功能的试点项目时获得项目管理和尖端X射线技术的实践培训。XLEAP将提供独特的功能组合，包括（1）高通量和高能量分辨率亚微米模式，（2）5-30 keV的亚微米聚焦X射线，（3）30-70 keV的= 1 µm聚焦X射线，（4）容纳定制原位植物生长室和根盒以及低温恒温器的开放样品区，（5）CHESS开发的3D共焦显微X射线荧光（XRF），以及（6）与X射线显微术工作流程集成的专用光学显微术。该设施还将包括一个在射束时间内用于受控环境的现场生长室，以及用于室温和冷冻水合组织的专用样品制备设施（立体显微镜、切片机、冷冻切片机）。XLEAP将提供XRF成像、断层扫描和共焦模式;时间分辨或空间分辨模式的X射线吸收光谱（XAS）;以及微X射线衍射（XRD）成像。组合（例如XRF + XRD）和这些模式之间的快速切换（例如从XRF到XAS）在光束线的设计和构造中将是重要的。在光束线上的定制生长室中原位研究活体植物的能力将使研究人员能够检查非应激组织中的基因型-表型关系。能量为40 keV的微聚焦X射线和具有低像素停留时间的尖端探测器将最大限度地减少辐射剂量和对活组织的损伤，从而能够在多个时间尺度上研究活组织的动态变化。高能量将提供高灵敏度的明确测量高Z元素，如碘和稀土元素。在5-30 keV的范围内，亚微米X射线将使细胞水平的研究成为可能。该奖项反映了NSF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。