science-engineering

University upgrades STEM tools


Suite of new high-performance microscopes will be used for experiments at GW’s new research facility.

science-engineeringFEI and the George Washington University (GW) are partnering to install several new high-performance microscopes at GW’s Science and Engineering Hall.

The new, $275 million, 500,000-square-foot research facility will soon be home to four microscopes from FEI: the Talos(TM) F200X transmission electron microscope (TEM), Helios NanoLab(TM) 660 DualBeam, Teneo(TM) scanning electron microscope (SEM), and CorrSight(TM) advanced light microscope for correlative light/electron microscopy. These systems will be used by professors and their students for research covering the full spectrum from materials through life sciences.

“We are very pleased to work with FEI to acquire and install these microscopes,” said GW’s Vice President for Research Leo Chalupa. “This new equipment will enable our faculty and students to perform groundbreaking research and prepare our students to become leaders in STEM.”

(Next page: Each instrument’s offering)

GW’s research funding has grown by 80 percent in the past decade and the university opened a Science and Engineering Hall on March 4, 2015.

They selected the suite of light and electron microscopes from FEI because they provide the ease-of-use and workflows needed for a multidisciplinary microscopy suite. GW’s objective is to provide an environment that cross-pollinates research disciplines, enhances collaboration and streamlines equipment budgets.

“Historically, GW has operated like most universities do; they conduct research by department, in separate laboratories, with individual budgets. GW is changing the dynamic of how they do research by combining STEM fields in one facility, where the researchers and students will share instrumentation and work together more closely,” said Thomas Russo, assistant vice president, Industry and Corporate Research.

Each instrument offers a unique capability:

— Talos TEM provides atomic-scale image resolution, combined with high-throughput chemical mapping and tomography, all in an easy-to-use integrated package for a multi-disciplinary lab;
— Helios NanoLab DualBeam offers three-dimensional imaging using automated serial sectioning by focused ion beam (FIB); TEM sample preparation from bulk samples; and circuit edit capabilities;
— Teneo is a highly-versatile, high-resolution (SEM) that offers multiple, simultaneous detection modes and high-contrast imaging on a wide variety of samples from steels to insulators;
— CorrSight is an advanced, inverted fluorescent-light microscope workflow solution specifically-designed for live-cell imaging and sample preparation for electron microscopy (EM). CorrSight is able to image samples with visible light and identify features or events of interest, then prepare and transfer those samples to EM, including the transfer of target locations, a technique known as correlative light and electron microscopy (CLEM).

Material from a press release was used in this report.

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