Purchase of a sputter coater and critical point drying system for the preparation od biological samples

这项建议是为空间科学和海洋环境研究所的扫描电子显微镜设施购买一套易碎生物样品制备系统。该设备包括一个临界点干燥器和一个溅射镀膜系统。这些设备将用于制备易碎的生物样本，并便于在SEM下进行观察。将制备的样品包括甲藻孢囊和囊、硅藻细胞壳、细菌制剂和从海水中收集的纳米颗粒。它还可以用于许多其他非生物应用。临界点干燥器将与丙酮和液态CO2一起使用，用于对精细样品进行脱水，并使其保持原始形状，以便在SEM下进行适当观察。溅射镀膜机系统将用于用金或碳薄膜覆盖非导电生物和非生物样品。这将保护样品在高放大率下观察时不会过热，并增强二次电子的发射，这将大大提高图像质量，并使安装在SEM上的EDX检测器（X射线分析）的性能最大化。目前在Bas St-Laurent地区还没有这种设备。它们将用于在圣劳伦斯河口和海湾系统以及在北极和南极地区进行的几个研究项目。它们将被一些硕士（9），博士（7）和研究专业人员/技术人员（4）使用。

This proposal is to purchase a system for the preparation of fragile biological samples for the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) facility at ISMER-UQAR. The equipments consist of a critical point dryer and a sputter coater systems. These equipments will be used to prepare fragile biological samples and facilitate observations under the SEM. The samples that will be prepared include dinoflagellate cysts and thecae, diatom frustules, bacterial preparations and nanoparticles collected from seawater. It can also be used in a number of other non-biological applications. The critical point dryer will be used, together with acetone and liquid CO2, for dehydrating delicate samples and allowing them to keep their original shape for proper observation under the SEM. The sputter coater system will be used to cover non-conductive biological and non-biological samples with a thin film of either gold or carbon. This will protect the specimens from overheating when observed at high magnification, and enhance the emission of secondary electrons, which will substantially improve the quality of images and allow to maximize the performance of the EDX detector (X-Ray analysis) that is installed on the SEM. Such equipments are presently not available in the Bas St-Laurent region. They will be used in the course of several research projects conducted in the Estuary and Gulf of St. Lawrence system, as well as in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. They will be used by a number of MSc (9), PhD (7) and research professionals/technicians (4).