Equipment: MRI: Track 1: Acquisition of a Zeiss 560 VP FE-SEM for chemical and surface characterization and training.

设备：MRI：轨道 1：购买 Zeiss 560 VP FE-SEM，用于化学和表面表征和培训。

• 批准号: 2320480
• 负责人: Marco De Jesus
• 金额: $ 98.89万
• 依托单位: University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-09-01 至 2026-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2320480&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Equipment; MRI; Track; Acquisition; Zeiss; Equipment; MRI; Track; Acquisition; Zeiss

Nanoscale variations in surface topography are hypothesized to disturb how bacterial agents become attached, proliferate, and subsequently form biofilms, particularly when those features are smaller than the microorganism itself. This instrument will lead to new insights into how changes in nanoscale topographies (i.e., shape, elevation, pitch, width, length, and density) can regulate or inhibit bacterial attachment and colonization of a surface. Information provided by this instrument could, for example, provide new insights on how ocean acidification reduces the ability of various marine organisms to build shells and exoskeletons. The successful use of this instrument has the potential to lead to the development of nanomaterials with controlled properties for biomedical, electronics, aerospace, and environmental remediation applications. University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez (UPR-M) is the major engineering and applied sciences research center of the island with an academic population of over 12,000 students, 95% of them from underrepresented groups in STEM and over 51% females engaged in applied STEM programs. This instrument will thus substantially augment and enhance research and experiential training with a cutting-edge tool for the characterization of nanomaterials, polymers, and biological specimens for these students. Research conducted using this instrument will support undergraduate, graduate, and professional education and training in biology, chemistry, environmental sciences, and engineering. The use of the instrument will support the research training of over 100 undergraduate and more than 60 graduate students per year along with collaborations with four other universities and research and development facilities within 100 miles around the island. The system to be acquired is a high-resolution field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), with secondary electron (SE), Energy Dispersive X-Ray (EDS), and variable pressure (VP) capabilities, specifically a Zeiss 560 VP FE-SEM. The instrument will be used to assess the fundamental surface parameters such as morphology, density, and spatial distribution exerted on the sorption and effective binding of nanomaterials and bacterial agents with interest in developing scalable and transferable nanostructures that can either inhibit chemical agents and pathogen proliferation or systematically regulate bacterial binding and adhesion. The instrument will be used to evaluate the effect of the use of composite materials as matrix-reinforcements in biopolymers for biocidal applications and electronic applications. In addition, the instrument will also serve to study the morphological features and exoskeleton changes of deep-water crustaceans from the Caribbean basin as a function of sub-micron plastic pollution and global changes. The successful implementation of this instrument will enable the team to elucidate surface and structural parameters that can regulate structural integrity, bacterial binding, biosensing, and chemical remediation. Due to its diverse range of analytical capabilities this instrument has the potential to be used in a variety of interdisciplinary applications and to provide interdisciplinary training and research opportunities to a diverse group of undergraduate and graduate students in the fields of Chemistry, Materials Science and Engineering, Biology, Biotechnology, and Marine Sciences.This project is jointly funded by the Major Research Implementation (MRI) Program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

假设表面形貌的纳米级变化会干扰细菌剂的附着，增殖并随后形成生物膜，尤其是当这些特征小于微生物本身时。该仪器将导致对纳米级地形的变化（即形状，高程，俯仰，宽度，长度和密度）的变化如何调节或抑制表面的细菌附着和定植的新见解。例如，该仪器提供的信息可以提供有关海洋酸化如何降低各种海洋生物建造壳和外骨骼的能力的新见解。该仪器的成功使用有可能导致具有用于生物医学，电子，航空航天和环境修复应用的受控性能的纳米材料的发展。波多黎各大学 - 玛雅格斯（UPR -M）是该岛的主要工程和应用科学研究中心，学术人口超过12,000名，其中95％来自STEM的代表性不足的群体，超过51％的女性从事应用STEM计划。因此，该仪器将使用尖端的工具来大大增加并增强研究和体验训练，以表征这些学生的纳米材料，聚合物和生物标本。使用该工具进行的研究将支持生物学，化学，环境科学和工程学的本科，研究生以及专业教育。该乐器的使用将支持每年100多名本科生和60多名研究生的研究培训，以及与其他四所大学以及岛上100英里内的研究与发展设施的合作。要获取的系统是高分辨率场发射扫描电子显微镜（FE-SEM），具有次级电子（SE），能量分散X射线（EDS）和可变压力（VP）功能，特别是Zeiss 560 VP Fe-Sem。该仪器将用于评估基本的表面参数，例如在纳米材料和细菌剂的吸附和有效结合上施加的形态，密度和空间分布，对开发可扩展且可转移的纳米结构的兴趣，这些纳米结构可以抑制化学物质和病原体增殖或系统地调节细菌结合和粘连粘附。该仪器将用于评估使用复合材料作为生物介入应用和电子应用的生物聚合物中基质增强物的影响。此外，该仪器还将有助于研究加勒比海盆地深水甲壳类动物的形态特征和外骨骼变化，这是亚微米塑料污染和全球变化的函数。该仪器的成功实施将使团队能够阐明可以调节结构完整性，细菌结合，生物传感和化学修复的表面和结构参数。由于其多样化的分析能力范围，该工具有可能将其用于各种跨学科应用，并为在化学，材料科学和工程学，生物学，生物学学和竞争计划的跨学科培训和研究机会提供跨学科的培训和研究机会，并在化学，材料科学和生物学，生物学，生物学方面和竞争方面（MRII）进行了竞争（MRI）（MRI），MR （EPSCOR）。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为是值得通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛影响的审查标准来评估值得支持的。