Acquisition of Field-emission Scanning Electron Microscopy at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences

在查尔斯·奥凯利博士的指导下，向毕格罗海洋科学实验室提供了一笔赠款，用于部分支持购置具有元素分析能力的场发射扫描电子显微镜。扫描电子显微镜是研究海洋环境中微生物，包括原生生物(藻类和原生动物)、细菌和病毒的生物多样性的重要工具。细胞表面特征的形态和化学成分，如鳞片、细胞壁成分、包囊、矿物堆积)都可以提供鉴别物种的特征。这些特征可能会帮助我们发现微生物如何与海洋中的其他生物相互作用。它们还可能帮助我们发现，对海洋化学通量做出贡献的微粒，特别是碳的微粒，是否来自微生物，如果是的话，来自哪些微生物。通常，感兴趣的结构如此之小，以至于大多数扫描电子显微镜仪器无法提供它们的清晰图像。场发射扫描电子显微镜具有将这些结构以我们需要的细节可视化的分辨率，并可以更准确地告诉我们它们是如何制作的。教育活动包括开发一门关于电子显微镜及其在海洋生物研究中的应用的课程，该课程将作为毕格罗实验室“海洋科学基础”系列课程的一部分开发，并专门针对缅因州的研究人员和教育工作者。扫描电子显微镜的图像还将被整合到“植物园”系列多媒体工具中，供7年级及以上的教室使用，供美国和世界各地的许多教育工作者使用。获得场致发射扫描电子显微镜将为毕格罗实验室的科学家提供更广泛和更深入的研究机会，使其能够扩展到以前因缺乏适当仪器而无法进入的领域。此次收购将促进初级和高级访问科学家更多地利用毕格罗实验室的设施，特别是普罗瓦索利-吉拉德国家海洋浮游植物培养中心。它将通过植物园项目系列和其他毕格罗实验室教育和推广活动，促进与电子显微镜相关的教育方案和工具的发展。

A grant has been awarded to the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, under the direction of Dr. Charles O'Kelly, to support, in part, the acquisition of a field-emission scanning electron microscope with elemental analysis capability. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is an important tool to study the biodiversity of microbes, including protists (algae and protozoa), bacteria and viruses, in the marine environment. Both the morphology and the chemical composition of cell surface features, such as scales, cell wall components, cysts, mineral accretions) may provide characters that identify species. These features may help us discover how microbes interact with other organisms in the sea. They may also help us discover whether microparticles that contribute to ocean chemical fluxes, especially of carbon, have come from microbes, and if so from which ones. Often, the structures of interest are so small than most SEM instruments cannot provide clear images of them. Field-emission SEM has the resolving power to visualize these structure with the detail that we require, and can tell us with greater accuracy of what they are made.Educational activities include the development of a course on electron microscopy and its application to marine biological research, to be developed as part of Bigelow Laboratory's "Foundations of Marine Science" course series, and to be targeted particularly for Maine researchers and educators. Images from the SEM will also be incorporated into the "Phytopia" series of multimedia tools, intended for classroom use at Grade 7 and above and so used by numerous educators in the United States and throughout the world.Acquisition of the field-emission SEM will provide scientists at the Bigelow Laboratory with a greater range and depth of research opportunities, permitting expansion into areas previously out of reach for lack of appropriate instrumentation. The acquisition will promote greater use of Bigelow Laboratory facilities, especially the Provasoli-Guillard National Center for Culture of Marine Phytoplankton, by junior and senior visiting scientists. It will promote the development of educational programs and tools related to electron microscopy, through the Phytopia project series and other Bigelow Laboratory educational and outreach activities.