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.
