Acquisition of a Cryogenic Field Emission EM

描述（由申请人提供）：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品中精细结构细节的可视化需求越来越重要。该提案要求提供资金，用于购买配备Gatan低温转移系统的Hitachi S-4800场发射扫描电子显微镜。该仪器将提供成像生物样品和相对较软的材料，在低加速电压下，并在适用的情况下，充分水合条件下，使用现代低温技术的纳米长度尺度上的功能所需的能力。实际上，本提案中包括的所有研究人员都打算将该仪器用于低原子序数、非导电样品，其中大多数是需要低温制备并考虑保留结构细节的水合样品。一些研究将受到收购该仪器的影响是药物和基因递送，生物分子和生物电子信号，基于分子的传感系统和生物医学研究中的其他重要新技术。

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.