An Upgraded Scanning Electron Microscope for Organismic and Evolutionary Biology

该奖项为购买一台配备Peltier冷却级的环境扫描电子显微镜（ESEM）提供支持，供哈佛大学生物和进化生物学以及分子和细胞生物学的至少13个研究小组使用。这种现代化的多功能仪器将取代已有25年历史的现有仪器，该仪器缺乏检测全水合材料的能力。该仪器将供学生、研究助理和教师使用，确保学生在使用现代电子显微镜方面得到培训。生物、进化和发育生物学领域的各种研究将利用这种新设备。最初的用途包括研究硫氧化细菌的形态，确定两栖动物神经嵴细胞的迁移途径，以及研究植物木质部栓塞修复和根部水分吸收的机制。在没有在样品室中使用低压或真空的仪器发展之前，以扫描电子显微镜提供的分辨率水平进行此类研究是不可能的。

This award provides support for purchase of an Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope (ESEM) equipped with a Peltier cooling stage to be used by at least 13 research groups in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology of Harvard University. This modern, multifunctional instrument will replace an existing, 25-year-old instrument which lacks the capacity for examining fully hydrated materials. The instrument will be available for use by students, research associates and faculty, insuring student training in use of a modern electron microscope. Diverse research in the areas of organismic, evolutionary, and developmental biology will utilize this new equipment. Initial uses include studies of the morphology of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria, determination of the migration pathway of neural crest cells in amphibians, and studies of the mechanisms of xylem embolism repair and root water uptake in plants. Such studies with the level of resolution provided by scanning electron microscopy were not possible until the development of instruments that did not use a low pressure or vacuum in the sample chamber.