In the News
UCSD to Acquire Cutting-Edge Electron Microscope for Biomedical Research
June 12, 2007 — UCSD’s National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research (NCMIR) has been awarded a large grant to assist in the purchase of a new high energy electron microscope. Today’s announcement by the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will afford NCMIR scientists an opportunity to explore new microscope technologies for advancing research benefiting biomedical research. UCSD’s award is the only grant this year for an advanced electron microscope from NIH’s High-End Instrumentation (HEI) program.
The $2 Million grant will allow NCMIR to acquire a high-performance intermediate voltage transmission electron microscope (IVEM) for automated 3D electron tomography and other methods being developed at UCSD. To be installed within UCSD's Center for Research in Biological Systems (CRBS), the new microscope will provide researchers opportunities to explore sophisticated new electron microscopy modes to augment and advance electron microscopic tomography, scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), and high-angle-annular dark-field microscopy. NCMIR, an NCRR/NIH Biomedical Technology Research Center, was established at UCSD in 1989 to develop computer-aided advanced microscopy for acquisition of structural and functional data in the 1-100 um3 dimensional range.
“The award to acquire a cutting-edge instrument will enable our Center to continue to lead the development of 3D and 4D imaging and analysis technologies that are helping researchers illuminate and discriminate new biological structures and functions,” explained NCMIR’s Director, Mark Ellisman, adding “The new scope offers new avenues of research for elucidating the mechanisms underlying diseases of the nervous system as well as advancing studies into the cellular and molecular processes relevant to cancer, diabetes, and heart disease, to name a few.”
UCSD was one of eleven universities (U. Arizona, UCSD, U. Colorado, U. Connecticut, Johns Hopkins U., U. Maryland, U. Texas, Vanderbilt U., U. Washington, U. Wisconsin, and Yale University) and three medical institutions (Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Burnham Inst. for Medical Research in La Jolla, Calif., and the Nathan S. Kline Inst. for Psychiatric Research in Menand, N.Y.) receiving awards in this round of funding.
“These high-performance imaging instruments and other advanced technologies enable both basic discoveries that shed light on the underlying causes of disease and the development of novel therapies to treat them,” said Barbara Alving, M.D., NCRR Director. “The value of this investment in advanced equipment is greatly leveraged because each of these rare tools is used by a number of investigators, advancing a broad range of research projects.”
To qualify for a HEI award, institutions identified three or more NIH-funded investigators whose research required the requested instrument. More information about the High-End Instrumentation program is available at: http://www.ncrr.nih.gov/ biomedical_technology/high-end_instrumentation/
Related Links:
NCRR HEI news release 12-June-07
