Acquisition of a Cryogenic Field Emission EM

描述(申请人提供)：在现代生物学和相关生物医学研究中，对尽可能接近自然状态的样本中的精细结构细节进行可视化的需求日益重要。该提案要求提供资金，用于购买配备GATAN冷冻传输系统的日立S-4800场发射扫描电子显微镜。该仪器将提供必要的能力，在低加速电压下对生物样品和具有纳米级特征的相对软材料进行成像，并在适用的情况下使用现代低温技术在完全水合的条件下进行成像。这项建议中包括的几乎所有研究人员都打算在低原子序数的非导电样品上使用这一仪器，其中大多数是水合样品，需要低温制备和观察，以保存结构细节。一些将受到该仪器收购影响的研究包括药物和基因传递、生物分子和生物电子信号、基于分子的传感系统和其他生物医学研究中的重要新技术。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The need to visualize fine structural details in samples that are as close to the natural state as possible is increasingly important in modern biology and related biomedical research. This proposal requests funds for the purchase of a Hitachi S-4800 Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope equipped with a Gatan cryotransfer system. This instrument will provide capabilities necessary for imaging biological samples and relatively soft materials having features on the nanometer length scale under low accelerating voltages and, where applicable, fully hydrated condition using modern cryogenic technology. Virtually all of the investigators included in this proposal intend to use this instrument on low atomic number, non-conductive samples, with the majority being hydrated samples that require a cryogenic preparation and viewing to preservation of structural detail. Some of the research that will be impacted by acquisition of this instrument are drug and gene delivery, biomolecular & bioelectronic signaling, molecular based sensing systems and other important new technologies in biomedical research.