Acquisition of a Transmission Electron Microscope to Reactivate Facility

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This is an application requesting funds to purchase a Jeol JEM-1400 Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), to support the research projects of a group of NIH-funded investigators at the University of Miami Miller School Of Medicine. Some of these investigators have recently moved to this institution and have heavy needs for TEM that cannot be fulfilled by the available instruments. TEM is absolutely essential when high-resolution is needed, that cannot be achieved with standard confocal microscopy. All the investigators in the group need morphological readouts that require resolution within a few nanometers that can only be achieved by TEM. All the investigators in the group have had extensive experience with electron microscopy in their NIH-funded research. It is estimated that the needs of the core group of investigators in this application will account for 92% of the instrument time. A number of new additional investigators is expected to join the core group and a plan is put forth to train them and provide them with the expert support f a well-trained EM technician already in campus. The facility will be housed in fully renovated space already available and will be directed and co-directed by two full-time faculty members (the PI and another major user) and supervised by the technical manager mentioned above, who will have primary responsibility for maintaining the instrument and training new users. An advisory committee has been organized to oversee the use and maintenance of the instrument. Policies for the use and equitable sharing of the instrument, and a plan for its long-term maintenance have been established by the advisory committee. Strong institutional commitment provides ongoing support for the core facility and the instrumentation, and includes space renovation, 100% support for future service contracts and a fraction of the salary of the manager. The TEM needs of the primary user group cannot be satisfied by existing TEM instruments that are already heavily used and very outdated. None of the instruments in campus provide digital imaging. Improved access to this technology will greatly enhance the NIH-funded projects of the user group and possible future users in campus. In summary, this application seeks funding to replace a defunct shared resource that was in use for over 22 years.