A new blog for Microscopy and Analysis

I have a new blog I'm writing for Microscopy and Analysis. Every few weeks I'll sample some of the biggest news and research in microscopy and put it into a Microscopy News Round Up post.

Here are some of my recent posts:

• AFM Examines Sickle Cell, 3-D Atomic-Resolution View of Nanoparticle, Twisting an Electron Beam
• New Techniques Mean a Better Look at Malaria, Autism, and Apoptosis
• SRS Microscopy Captures Blood Cells at Video Rate

Happy Reading!

April through September Microscopy Events

April 29–May 2
New England Society for Microscopy 27th Annual Spring Symposium
MBL in Woodshole, MA
A CryoSEM Workshop, sponsored by Leica Microsystems and Zeiss SNT will be held on April 29.

http://nesm.cims.harvard.edu/NESM_04.htm

April 28-30
AFM in Biology Class
Asylum Research, Santa Barbara, CA
This 3-day class will cover a variety of AFM, biophysics and life sciences topics and will be tailored to the skill level of the participants. The class includes morning lectures that are complementary to the afternoon hands-on experiments.
http://www.asylumresearch.com/News/BioClassRegistration.pdf

May 1, 8, 15 & 22
Advanced course on polarized light microscopy
New York Microscopical Society, Clifton, NJ
The workshop will consist of four consecutive Saturdays of lectures and hands on labs to cover the theoretical and practical aspects of polarized light microscopy. It will cover the nature of polarized light, the origin and interpretation of interference colors, birefringence and crystal orientation, the Indicatrix compensation and variable compensators, as well as interference figures and their interpretation.
http://www.nyms.org/

May 31-June 4
Workshop on Piezoresponse Force Microscopy (PFM)
Montreal, Canada
Part of the Summer School on Advanced AFM Techniques and International Workshop on Piezoresponse and Conductive AFM. A combination of tutorial lectures by the advanced practitioners of PFM, topical lectures by leading scientists in the field, industrial lectures from PFM manufacturers, and poster sessions for attendees. It also includes extensive lab demos for participants to gain hand-on experience in PFM on various commercial systems, for which the attendees can bring their own samples for testing and examinations.

June 14-18
6th Annual Workshop on Basic Confocal Microscopy
University of South Carolina School of Medicine, Columbia, SC
Instrumentation Resource Facility
The workshop is directed towards beginning and intermediate users of confocal microscopes and involves a series of lectures (specimen preparation, labeling strategies, proper set-up of instrument operating parameters, proper handling of 2D and 3D confocal images in programs such as Adobe Photoshop and AMIRA), hands-on specimen preparation, and time on a number of different point scanning and spinning disk confocal microscopes. Microscope companies will be on-site with instruments and applications experts.
http://dba.med.sc.edu/price/irf/irf.htm

August 1-5
Microscopy & Microanalysis 2010
Oregon Convention Center, Portland, Oregon
The meeting will include an exhibit and symposia that cover the latest microscopic and microanalytical advances in fields such as nanotechnology, biological sciences, materials science, clinical diagnoses, and metallurgy. "Back to the Basics" tutorials and workshops will be held during the meeting in addition to the traditional Sunday Short Courses.
http://www.microscopy.org/MandM/2010/index.cfm

August 21-27
20th General Meeting of the International Mineralogical Association
Center for Electron Nanoscopy Technical University of Denmark
Budapest, Hungary
Abstract submission deadline: April 6, 2010
Bonds and Bridges: Mineral Sciences and Their Applications will cover natural and analogous solid matter and its interactions. Techniques are discussed, including a session on advanced transmission electron microscopy methods.
http://www.ima2010.hu/?my_view=nice&p=index

August 25–27
Workshop on Piezoresponse Force Microscopy
Beijing, China

A combination of tutorial lectures by the advanced practitioners of PFM, topical lectures by leading scientists in the field, industrial lectures from PFM manufacturers, and poster sessions for attendees. It also includes extensive lab demos for participants to gain hand-on experience in PFM on various commercial systems, for which the attendees can bring their own samples for testing and examinations.

http://www.ustb.edu.cn/materials/files/pfm/International_Workshop.html.

September 22-24
Workshop on Piezoresponse Force Microscopy
Prague, Czech Republic
In conjunction with the International Symposium on Ferroic Domains and Micro- to Nanoscopic structures. A combination of tutorial lectures by the advanced practitioners of PFM, topical lectures by leading scientists in the field, industrial lectures from PFM manufacturers, and poster sessions for attendees. It also includes extensive lab demos for participants to gain hand-on experience in PFM on various commercial systems, for which the attendees can bring their own samples for testing and examinations. It will also feature a series of invited and contributed talks by the attendees.
http://palata.fzu.cz/isfd10/index.php?item=pfm

New atomic force microscope

Veeco Instruments Inc. has released the Dimension Edge atomic force microscope (AFM) system for physical and life sciences investigation. The mid-priced system has a proprietary closed-loop and drift-compensated stage that allows the productivity, accuracy, and sample versatility of a large-sample, closed-loop system combined with the high-resolution images traditionally only achieved by small-sample, open-loop systems. The system’s lower noise levels allows collection of the fine details critical to material identification, while protecting fragile tips and samples, and diminishing tip artifacts. The microscope has a 5-megapixel digital camera and an180 to 1465 μm viewing area. It can be used for applications such as characterizing solar and semiconductor devices, mapping of heterogeneous polymer-based materials, and in situ imaging of life science samples from single molecules to whole cells.

More information here.

Late summer/fall microscopy events

August 19-21, 2009 
International Tutorial Workshop on Piezoresponse Force Microscopy (PFM)

National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS)

Tsukuba, Japan

The workshop is the 5th in a series and precedes the IMF-ISAF conference at Xi'an Jiaotong University in China. It will feature a series of tutorial and invited lectures on instrumental and theoretical aspects of PFM, nanoscale ferroelectricity, and emerging techniques such as Scanning Nonlinear Dielectric Microscopy. More information here. 

August 26, 2009

Materials Electron Microscopy: At the Limit

University of Illinois at Chicago

USA

This Midwest Microscopy & Microanalysis Society Meeting is a day of invited speakers discussing advanced electron microscopy in materials science. More information here. 

September 8-11, 2009
EMAG Conference and Exhibition 
University of Sheffield

UK
The Electron Microscopy and Analysis Group’s (EMAG) biennial conference captures the latest in the development and applications of electron microscope techniques. This year's themes are advanced electron microscopy techniques; investigating structure-property relationships in advanced material; and nanophysics and nanotechnology. The conference includes exhibitors, lectures, posters and technical workshops. More information here. 

September 22-25, 2009

Force Measurement and Manipulation in Biological Microscopy
University of North Carolina

Chapel Hill, NC USA

Learn the theory and techniques of measuring forces in biological samples in this course presented by Computer Integrated Systems for Microscopy and Manipulation, an NIH NIBIB Biotechnology Resource Center at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Attendees will use AFM, laser tweezers, and 3-D magnetic force systems on live biological samples, learn the theory and applications of force measurement, and receive an overview of mechanisms of force generation in biology and consequences at molecular and cellular level. More information here. 

October 14-15, 2009

8th International Symposium on Scanning Probe Microscopy & 

2nd International Symposium on Optical Tweezers in Life Sciences
Umspannwerk Ost, Berlin

This joint meeting is a forum for applications in scanning probe and optical tweezers technologies in life sciences. Applications covered include biophysical, biochemical and medical research. Leaders in the field together with novices are encouraged to learn from each other, discuss the presentations and share their experiences. More information here.

These events are also listed in the calendar on the right of this page. 

Local Thermal Analysis for AFM

AFM-based thermal analysis systems can exhibit thermally-induced bending of the cantilever, which leads to spurious deflection signals and variable loads being applied during heating. In response to this problem, Asylum Research has released the Ztherm Modulated Local Thermal Analysis Option for its MFP-3D and Cypher AFMs. The option provides highly localized heating with sensitivity to ≤10-22 liter materials property changes. The company’s cantilever compensation and control method corrects the thermal cantilever bending by constantly detecting the load of thermally induced melting (Tm), phase transitions (Tg), and other morphological and compliance effects. Detection is performed on areas less than 20 x 20 nm in size. The package can be used to evaluate contact stiffness and dissipation as a function of temperature with techniques such as the company’s Dual AC Resonance Tracking (DART), and integrated piezo actuation allows high resolution AC imaging of samples for surface topographical mapping before and after thermal measurements.

Microscopy events June-Sept

Andor Webinar
June 25
This 60 minute interactive webinar will be delivered by Dr. Mark Browne, Andor’s Director of Systems. It will focus on the company’s new Clara CCD camera, the UVP-350i laser platform for pulsed UV uncaging and ablation, and Differential Spinning Disk technology for white light confocal imaging.
More information here.

Principles of Fluorescence Techniques
June 29 - July 2, Genova, Italy
Sept 14-17, Madrid, Spain
Theoretical lectures will be complemented by the chance to use steady state and lifetime fluorescence instruments and confocal microscopes for FLIM and FRET applications. Topics will include:
• Basic Definitions and Principles of Fluorescence
• Fluorescence Polarization
• Time-resolved Fluorescence
• Instrumentation
• Data Manipulation and Data Analysis
• Non-Linear Microscopy Including SHG
• GFP Fluorescence and Photoactivation
• Confocal and Multiphoton Fluorescence Microscopy
• FCS, Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy
• FLIM, Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging
• Single Molecule Imaging
• Image Processing and Deconvolution Approaches
More information on Genova course here.
More information on Madrid course here.

Taiwan Bioworkshop
National Taiwan University (NTU)
July 30-31
In conjunction with the NTU National Health Institute in Taiwan, Asylum Research presents the first Taiwan Bioworkshop. The free workshop will feature AFM lectures and a hands-on workshop. Topics include:
• Principles of AFM
• High resolution molecular imaging
• Cell imaging
• Force measurements
• Combined AFM and optical imaging
More information here.

These events are now added to the microscopy news google calendar here. 

AFM measures charges of individual atoms

Scientists would like to create devices using molecular-scale manufacturing, but this requires measurement of forces and charges on very small scales. Researchers have now accomplished a feat that could aid such tiny manufacturing by using atomic force microscopy to measure forces on a scale small enough to distinguish neutral atoms from positively and negatively charged ones. 

The work was performed by scientists from IBM’s Zurich Research Laboratory, the University of Regensburg, Germany, and Utrecht University, Netherlands.  Achieving such high-resolution measurements required very high stability. In the June 12 issue of Science, they describe how the required stability was accomplished with a qPlus tuning fork atomic force microscope AFM operated in a vacuum at a very low temperature (5 Kelvin). 

The setup produced measurement conditions stable enough to achieve accuracies of better than 1 piconewton, enough to distinguish the charge of individual atoms. For example, the researchers found the difference in force between a neutral gold atom and that of a gold atom charged with an additional electron to be only about 11 piconewton.

These atomic-scale measurements add to other scientific advances that are aimed at building computing elements that are on the molecular scale, which could create smaller, faster, and more energy-efficient processors and memory devices for tomorrow’s computers.

Free research paper: Measuring the Charge State of an Adatom with Noncontact Atomic Force Microscopy, Leo Gross, Fabian Mohn, Peter Liljeroth, Jascha Repp, Franz J. Giessibl, and Gerhard Meyer, Science 12 June 2009: 1428-1431.

Listen to a podcast interview with author here.

View a video on the research below.

Microscopy Events May to July

Check out the new events calendar on the right side of the page. If you click an event, then click "more details" the link to more info is then shown as active. Please e-mail events to microscopynews@aol.com. 

May 28
Optical Techniques Workshop
Westmont, IL
http://www.midwestmicroscopy.org/MMMSOPTTECHWORKSHOP200905.pdf
The Midwest Microscopy and Microanalysis Society will hold its third annual Optical Techniques Workshop on Thursday, May 28, 2009. This year's program on the basics of polarized light microscopy will include lectures, applications demonstrations and hands-on training. Space for the hands-on portion of the program will be limited, so please RSVP early if you plan to attend (no later than Wed. May 20). 

June 15-19
Basic Confocal Workshop
University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC
http://dba.med.sc.edu/irf/price/irf/irf.htm
There are still some slots available in this year's Basic Confocal Workshop hosted by the University of South Carolina. The workshop will include a series of lectures on the theory and applications of confocal microscopy, specimen preparation, processing confocal images in Photoshop, and 3D reconstructions using AMIRA. Students will be able to process triple labeled samples (cell cultures and sections) on site or bring their own samples to the workshop.

AFM in Biology Class
Asylum Research, Santa Barbara, CA
June 3-5
www.asylumresearch.com
This comprehensive class is open to all AFM scientists that wish to
expand their AFM knowledge as it pertains to life science applications.
The class includes both lecture and extensive hands-on experiments with
topics on:
• Basic AFM operation (as demonstrated on the MFP-3D AFM)
• Biological sample preparation and interpretation of AFM data
• Choice of cantilevers
• Imaging samples in air and fluids: from molecules to cells
• Force measurements: intra molecular forces and hardness measurements
• Simultaneous AFM and optical microscopy techniques including
fluorescence and phase contrast
• Recognizing artifacts

Euro AFM Forum
Technical University of Munich
Garching, Germany, July 1-3
http://www.atomicforce.de/Euro-AFM-Forum-2009.php
Asylum Research in conjunction with IMETUM, Nano Initiative Munich, and Atomic Force F&E will hold the 2nd Euro AFM Forum. The Euro AFM Forum is a conference for AFM researchers to share their research for both materials and life science applications. It will combine invited and contributed talks from leading European researchers as well as instructional workshops on AFM equipment. Researchers can submit abstracts for talks and posters as well as images (submission deadline is June 1).

Click here to see previously posted events. 

Atomic force microscope for research and education

Agilent Technologies Inc. has introduced the Agilent 5420 atomic force microscope. Based on the company’s 5400 platform, the microscope has been engineered to deliver lower noise, better performance, and greater versatility. It can be used for materials science, polymers, electrical characterization, and general surface characterization applications

The microscope comes with an undergraduate course curriculum and samples for teaching labs. Several performance-enhancing options are available, including an open-loop and closed-loop X-Y & Z 90 micron scanner, a 9 micron open-loop scanner, and a 10 micron STM scanner. For high-resolution imaging in liquid, Agilent’s MAC Mode is available. Precision thermal control can be added as well. Get specifications and read about additional options here.

Atomic force microscopy lithography used to position neurons on gold

Biologists want to study cells in their natural environment if at all possible. When studying neurons this is even more important but can be quite a challenge. Since in vivo neural networks are too complex to easily observe biological processes, scientists often turn to in vitro methods to replicate and simplify networks of neurons and their environments.

However, cells as specialized as neurons require a special touch when working in vitro. Concerns include keeping the biomolecules required for neuron growth stable, producing neurons that are precisely arranged so that they can interact with each other, and keeping external conditions strictly regulated so that neuron behavior isn’t affected.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison turned to atomic force microscopy (AFM) lithography to see if it can aid in creating neuronal assemblies. They used the technique to pattern poly-D-lysine (PDL) and laminin onto gold surfaces. These proteins can be used to control neuronal growth by confining the neurons and controlling their interconnectivity. The work was published in Biomaterials.

Specifically, they used an AFM technique called nanoshaving in which a spot on a PEG/Au substrate is selected by imaging the surface topography at low force, then the AFM tip (under relatively high force loads) shaves away a micron-sized area of PEG while the substrate is in contact with a pure solvent. The removed PEG molecules dilute into the solution. Then the solvent is replaced with a buffer solution containing either PDL or laminin protein, which bind to only the regions where the gold substrate is exposed.

The researchers found they could create protein features of ~50 nm and that isolated cortical neurons grown on protein squares ≥100 µm apart and surrounded by PEG did not form any neurites unless there were protein lines patterned between the growth squares.

Research paper: Positioning and guidance of neurons on gold surfaces by directed assembly of proteins using Atomic Force Microscopy

Grant winners announced and 'SPM in Energy' grant solicitation underway

Congratulations to the winners of "HarmoniX Innovation," phase I of Veeco Labs Research Grant Program. The best proposals for research in nano- and biomaterial development using the HarmoniX were chosen to receive the full-spectrum HarmoniX microscopy package.

HarmoniX is an atomic force microscopy mode that offsets the probe tip from the cantilever. This enhances the signal-to-noise ratio of the cantilever harmonics in TappingMode by coupling the normal forces of the tip with the torsional cantilever motion.

And the winners are . . . 

• Liz Adams and Kirk Czymmek (University of Delaware, USA) – “Characterization of the Fungal Cell Wall Structure Using HarmoniX AFM”
  
• Zbigniew Celinski and Anatoliy Glushchenko (University of Colorado, USA) – “Mapping the Aligning Forces Acting on Liquid Crystals on an Inorganic Substrate”
  
• Sidney Cohen and David Cahen (Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel) – “Molecular-Level Mechanics of Self-Assembled Monolayer Films Containing the Azo-Benzene Group and Their Applications in Molecular Motors”
  
• S. De Beer, Dirk van den Ende, Frieder Mugele, Bram Borkent and Detlef Lohse (University of Twente, Netherlands) – “HarmoniX for Nanofluidics”
  
• Philippe LeClere (University of Mons-Hainaut, Belgium) – “Biomimetic Surfaces: Adhesives for the Future”
  
• George Schitter (Delft University of Technology, Netherlands) – “Optimizing the Speed of TappingMode AFM by HarmoniX-Based Feedback”
  
• Igor Sokolov (Clarkson University, USA) – “Study of Local Rigidity Distributions on Human Cells: ‘Sick’ versus Normal Cells”
  
• Andreea Trache (Texas A&M University, USA) – “Measurements of Cytoskeletal Stiffness Dynamics in Live Cells Using HarmoniX Mapping Module”
  
• G. Julius Vancso and Holger Schönherr (University of Twente, Netherlands) – “Chemically Sensitive Probing with HarmoniX”

If you missed out on Phase I, take a look at Phase II - "SPM in Energy." Proposals are currently sought for concept development and validation using scanning probe microscopy (SPM) to speed the characterization of, facilitate the development of, improve the yield/efficiency of, or enhance fundamental understanding of, energy generation, storage, or conservation. These grant winners will receive an equipment stipend for nano-electronic application modules for their Veeco Dimension, MultiMode, or Innova SPMs. More information at http://tinyurl.com/cna3xu.

AFM stability of 5 pm/min at room temp

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is finding more use in biological applications, and this usually means making measurements in liquids. However, the very reason AFM is useful -- its nanometer-scale sensitivity -- also makes the AFM probe very sensitive to environmental factors such as acoustic noise, temperature shifts and vibration. Thus, it becomes a challenge to keep the AFM probe exactly in one place (to measure protein interactions, for example) or to repeatedly return to a precise position.  

Extremely cold temperatures and a ultra-high vacuum can help overcome stability challenges, but aren't friendly to biological samples nor are they easy to set up. 

Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado have turned to using two additional laser beams (shown as red and green in the image) to sense the 3-D motion of the specimen and AFM probe. One beam lets them sense lateral and vertical drift in the sample using a reference point while the second beam lets them detect unwanted movement of the probe tip. The AFM measurements can be corrected using this information.

The researchers have previously reported on this technique, but in a new Nano Letters paper they used it to achieve a 100-fold improvement in AFM stability at room temperature. They controlled an AFM probe’s 3-D position to better than 40 pm over 100 s, and reported a long-term drift of only 5 pm/min. when imaging at room temperature.

In addition to biological applications, the technique would be useful for nanoscale manufacturing, which requires precise repeated AFM movements and measurements. 

What challenges have you faced with AFM stability?

Image: Copyright G.Kuebler/JILA/CU.

Sources: G.M. King, A.R. Carter, A.B. Churnside, L.S. Eberle and T.T. Perkins. Ultrastable atomic force microscopy: Atomic-scale stability and registration in ambient conditions. Nano Letters, Article ASAP, March 12, 2009 (DOI: 10.1021/nl803298q).

NIST Press release

ACS Spring Meeting

The Spring '09 meeting of the American Chemical Society is currently underway in Salt Lake City. With the theme "Nanoscience: Challenges for the Future," there's sure to be some interesting microscopy research being presented.

Here are a few of my picks:

• Studying spores with atomic force microscopy (AFM) – Alexander Malkin from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory discusses how in vitro AFM can be used to study microbial systems. For example, it can be used for directly visualizing the structural dynamics of single germinating bacterial spores. Yet another example of AFM's usefulness in biology.
• Organic photovoltaics under the microscope – Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin simultaneously collected near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) images of transmission, fluorescence, and photocurrent to examine factors limiting efficiency of an organic photovoltaic device. Organic photovoltaics are one of the leading technologies for solar power.
• Mixing microscopy and food– Researchers at Auburn University have used AFM to study of the nanostructure of food grade gelatin and polysaccharide water absorbents as well as for rapid identification of microorganisms tied to food safety. With all the food safety problems in the news, techniques to make sure food is safe before it gets to consumers are needed.
• MEMS-based heater for electron microscopy - Researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory together with Protochips Inc. are developing an in-situ MEMS-based heater chip that will aid in electron microscopy imaging of mononuclear catalytic species such as Au/Fe2O3 and Ir/MgO.

The conference included several talks on optical methods that overcome the diffraction limit:
Fluorescence photoactivation localization microscopy (FPALM)
Stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM)
Using fusions to EYFP
These all seem really nifty to me, but I've been hearing about various techniques to overcome the diffraction limit for several years (maybe more than several). What will it take for these techniques to find more use?