This Research Opportunities for Women Career Advancement grant supports research involving the use of proton microbeams to study the composition and spatial distribution of elements in various specimens of biological interest. These measurement techniques, originally developed for nuclear physics research, are now finding application in fields outside nuclear physics; the present grant will explore possible applications of Rutherford backscattering and particle-induced X-ray emission using beams of protons with diameters of 1-2 micrometersin the area of biological research.
