FEI Transmission Electron Microscope with Tomography Capability

描述（由申请人提供）：埃默里大学校园迫切需要一个最先进的TEM，以服务于多用户的研究小组。该大学最近将其容纳电子显微镜的核心实验室重组为一个单一的共享设施，即综合电子显微镜核心。一个FEI Tecnai G2 TEM被要求作为这个新的核心设施的主要基础。该应用程序的主要目的是增强埃默里校园的EM仪器，以促进广泛的NIH资助的研究项目。该仪器将被一组六名研究人员广泛使用，他们的项目需要先进的瞬变电磁法技术。该仪器将是校园内唯一具有高分辨率CCD，远程图像观看能力和断层扫描能力的仪器。主要用户的项目包括研究基本逆转录病毒组装（Spearman和Hunter），开发具有改变膜蛋白的新型病毒样颗粒作为艾滋病毒和埃博拉病毒的疫苗（Compans），检查淀粉样蛋白聚集体形成机制（Lynn），开发和分析作为生物传感器和药物输送载体的新型纳米颗粒（Nie），以及合成基于蛋白质的新型生物材料（Conticello）。每个主要用户将利用FEI显微镜的TEM功能，并将探索需要断层扫描的新应用。校园内的大量核心仪器用户将在核心技术总监的指导下使用FEI仪器，以避免少数主要用户占用的使用时间。该仪器对研究生产力的影响可能相当大，并且已经建立了一个强大的基础设施来确保仪器的维护和技术支持。该仪器对于埃默里大学现有的EM服务的持续升级至关重要，并将为校园内的广泛调查人员提供支持。公共卫生相关性：埃默里大学校园内的许多项目依靠电子显微镜取得成功。这项申请需要一种新的仪器，它将极大地促进病毒学、疫苗开发、纳米技术、淀粉样蛋白折叠和新生物材料的产生等领域的研究。这种新型显微镜将使这些项目和校园内的其他项目受益，这些项目将为公共卫生带来好处。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): There is an urgent need on the Emory University campus for a state-of-the-art TEM to serve a multi-user group of investigators. The University has recently re-organized its core laboratories housing electron microscopes into a single shared facility, the Integrated Electron Microscopy Core. An FEI Tecnai G2 TEM is requested as a major foundation of this new core facility. The major objective of this application is to enhance EM instrumentation on the Emory campus in order to facilitate a broad array of NIH- funded research projects. This instrument will be used extensively by a group of six investigators whose projects require advanced TEM techniques. The instrument will be the only one on campus with a high resolution CCD, remote image viewing capability, and the capacity for tomography. The projects of the major users include studies of basic retrovirus assembly (Spearman and Hunter), development of novel virus-like particles with altered membrane proteins as vaccines for HIV, and Ebola virus (Compans), examination of the mechanisms of amyloid aggregate formation (Lynn), development and analysis of novel nanoparticles as biosensors and drug delivery vehicles (Nie), and synthesis of novel protein-based biomaterials (Conticello). Each major user will utilize the TEM capabilities of the FEI microscope, and will explore new applications that require tomography. A large number of core instrumentation users across campus will have access to the FEI instrument under the guidance of the core technical director for the minority of usage time not taken by the major users. The impact of this instrument on research productivity is likely to be quite large, and a strong infrastructure is already in place to ensure maintenance and technical support for the instrument. This instrument is essential to an ongoing upgrade to the EM services available at Emory University, and will support a wide base of investigators on campus. Public Health Relevance: A number of projects on the Emory University campus rely on electron microscopy for their success. This application requests a new instrument that will greatly facilitate research in the areas of virology, vaccine development, nanotechnology, amyloid protein folding, and generation of new biomaterials. The new microscope will benefit these projects and a wide range of other projects on campus that will yield benefits to public health.