A new state-of-the-art imaging and analysis tool at West Virginia University will give researchers the ability to get a true inside look at their research.
A $2.5 million Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) award from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), secured through a request made by U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, was awarded to WVU earlier this week to support the purchase of a focused ion-beam scanning electron microscope (FIB-SEM).
The tool will serve a variety of purposes for academic research at the university, including neuroscience engineering, biomedical sciences, microfluidics, medical imaging, mechanical engineering and advanced manufacturing.
Dr. Aamer Mahmood, director of Shared Research Facilities at WVU, said there are two main components to the tool – the focused ion beam or FIB and the scanning electron microscope or SEM.
In very simple terms, Mahmood said the FIB component is “a very sharp knife to cut with nanometer-scale resolution.”
It is nearly impossible to visualize just how small a nano is, but for some context, the National Nanotechnology Initiative says one nanometer is about as long as your fingernail grows in one second. A strand of human DNA is 2.5 nanometers in diameter, a human hair is approximately 80,000-100,000 nanometers wide, and there are 25,400,000 nanometers in one inch.
In short, the FIB component will allow researchers to cut the smallest of molecules like DNA and neurons into intricate shapes to get a better look inside.
The second component of the tool is a scanning electron microscope or SEM.
Dr. Mahmood explained that electron microscopes are used for imaging, but they can only image the top surface that is visible.
However, for researchers, “a lot of the interest and action is what lies beneath that top surface,” he said.
If there are multiple layers that make up a device or material researchers are studying, it is of interest to know what is happening at the interface of each of those layers, but that can’t be seen by just looking at it from the top.
“Visualize a sandwich,” Mahmood explained. “If you want to see what is inside the sandwich you can’t see from the top, right? You have to cut the bread and if you look at the cross section you can see there is cheese and there is mayo and all these things inside.”
“Think of it like a very, very high-resolution laser machine that allows you to mill and cut to make very small sized factions,” he said. This is how the FIB component will work with the SEM component, cutting the substance being studied and giving researchers a true inside look.
Mahmood said the FIG-SEM will find applications for research being done at WVU on a variety of topics including neuroscience engineering, biomedical sciences, microfluidics and others.
“It’s going to be a massive, massive boost to our research capabilities,” he said.
According to Mahmood, similar tools can be found at a few larger universities, but this is the first of its kind at WVU. Previously, WVU researchers would have to collaborate with other researchers at those larger universities or send samples out to be analyzed elsewhere.
Because the FIB-SEM is so expensive and it doesn’t have application in all types of research, Mahmood said having the FIB-SEM in house will not only serve WVU researchers but could open the door for someone new to come in or for them to compliment the bigger guys at schools like Carnegie Mellon or Pittsburgh.
“We have a very, very strong program in biomedical research and we would have capabilities in biomedical research that would not be present, for example, at a school in Pittsburgh,” he said.
The new equipment will not only add to their research capabilities, but also will provide students with the opportunity to get their hands on and experience what top-of-the-line research equipment can do, making it an excellent training tool as well. Mahmood said it will also allow them to lower operation costs as older equipment becomes more expensive to maintain.
Because alternative funding options for the FIB-SEM would have been much harder to obtain, Mahmood said the NIST money secured by Senator Capito has “made it very easy and put within our reach something that would have taken much longer.”
“I am thrilled to have secured funding for the FIB-SEM at WVU. This powerful tool will fuel the important and groundbreaking research that WVU has been leading for decades and enhance the capacities of our faculty and students. I will continue working to secure resources that enhance West Virginia’s higher education institutions’ capabilities and help keep them on the leading edge of research for the future,” Senator Capito said in a press release.
The FIB-SEM instrument will be housed in the Electron Microscopy Facilities (EMF) of the WVU Shared Research Facilities and will be available to a wide user base of university researchers.
