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Project

STEM/EDS for high-resolution imaging and chemical element mapping to study soft and hard tissues, biomaterials and interfacial biomaterial-tissue interactions. A multifunctional research instrument with broad multidisciplinary application.

Transmission electron microscopy is a powerful research technique with a broad application area in life and material sciences. A large research consortium consisting of 22 partners belonging to 13 research groups with a wide research interest jointly applies for the newest state-of-theart user-friendly, low-threshold and versatile 120-kV Transmission Electron Microscope. This TEM should possess an integrated digital camera for high-resolution imaging of soft and hard tissues, biomaterials and their interfacial interactions with these tissues. It should additionally be equipped with a STEM (Scanning TEM) unit and a fully integrated EDS (Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy) system for chemical element mapping of tissues, biomaterials and their mutual interfaces. The highly needed (S)TEM/EDS will replace two 30-year old TEMs at BIOMAT (Department of Oral Health Sciences) and the Zoological Institute (Department of Biology). Conventional TEM (cTEM) is standardly employed for ultra-structural characterization in the diverse research fields the different researchconsortium partners are/will be active. The upgrade to a combined STEM/EDS device will enable correlatively collecting ultra-structural and chemical compositional data, the latter in particular of interest to study diverse sorts of biomaterials and biomaterial-soft/hard tissue interfacial processes. Finally, a cryo-workstation is foreseen to visualize macromolecules in their native hydrated state. 

Date:1 May 2020 →  Today
Keywords:Transmission electron microscopy, high-resolution imaging, Scanning TEM, Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy, cryo-workstation
Disciplines:Medical imaging and therapy not elsewhere classified