Native state imaging and characterization of hydrogels using advanced electron microscopy through the development of new techniques

透射电子显微镜（TEM）通常要求样品厚度低于约100 μ m。200纳米。在样品不能直接沉积或生长在网格上的情况下，需要低温稳定的样品的制备通常会遇到障碍，因为目前还没有可靠的解决方案。学生将参与新的样品制备方法和硬件开发的开发，以实现光束敏感材料（水凝胶）的自然状态成像，重点是再生医学材料。目的是为常规的FIB-SEM到TEM的转移创建一个解决方案，以实现软物质样品的低温TEM。学生将使用细胞培养设施来创建凝胶和国家的最先进的显微镜仪器，以询问他们的纳米结构，研究细胞在基质中的相互作用。该项目将联合收割机结合这些领域，以更好地了解凝胶特性和细胞类型如何影响细胞培养3D支架内的细胞-凝胶相互作用。其结果将是更好地了解如何调整这些因素，以满足其所需的应用。

Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) typically requires sample thicknesses below approx. 200 nm. Where samples cannot be directly deposited or grown on the grid, the preparation of samples requiring cryogenic stabilisation often hit a stumbling block as there is currently no reliable solution for this. The student will be engaged in the development of new sample preparation approaches and hardware development to enable the native state imaging of beam sensitive materials (hydrogels) with a focus on regenerative medicine materials. The aim will be to create a solution for routine FIB-SEM to TEM transfer to enable cryo-TEM of soft-matter samples. The student will use cell culture facilities to create the gels and state-of-the-art microscopy instrumentation tointerrogate their nanoscale structures investigating the interactions of cells in the matrix. The project will combine these areas to better understand how the gel properties and cell types affect the cell-gel interaction within the 3D scaffolds for cell culture. The result will be an improved understanding of how these factors can be tuned for their desired application.