This is a proposal to acquire the instruments needed to couple a multi-purpose scanning probe microscope with a photon counting intensified CCD camera imaging system and a tunable liquid crystal filter to accomplish two objectives. First, the instrumentation will create a multi-purpose test bed for the study of luminescence and spectral processes of reporter cells, nucleic acids, and enzymes at specialized substrata, thereby advancing fundamental understanding of biomicroelectronics and nanobiotechnology. Second, the instrument will dramatically improve the infrastructure and expand the research and training efforts of the scientific and engineering communities at the University. In addition, the instrumentation will be used in courses in Microbiology, Biochemistry, Electrical Engineering, and Geology.
