The need to visualize fine structural details in samples that are as close to the natural state as possible is increasingly important in modern biology and related biomedical research. This proposal requests funds for the purchase of a Hitachi S-4800 Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope equipped with a Gatan cryotransfer system. This instrument will provide capabilities necessary for imaging biological samples and relatively soft materials having features on the nanometer length scale under low accelerating voltages and, where applicable, fully hydrated condition using modern cryogenic technology. Virtually all of the investigators included in this proposal intend to use this instrument on low atomic number, non-conductive samples, with the majority being hydrated samples that require a cryogenic preparation and viewing to preservation of structural detail. Some of the research that will be impacted by acquisition of this instrument are drug and gene delivery, biomolecular & bioelectronic signaling, molecular based sensing systems and other important new technologies in biomedical research.
