Dual NSF Grants Enable UA Scientists, Students to Peer Deeply

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – University of Alabama scientists peer more deeply and more clearly into microscopic specimens than ever before courtesy of two National Science Foundation grants totaling more than $600,000.

Earlier this semester, a Hitachi Transmission Electronic Microscope was installed within the Optical Analysis Facility housed in the biological sciences department. The microscope can magnify an object up to 600,000 times and, more importantly to the cell biologists, chemists and others apt to use the powerful machine, provides resolution capabilities necessary to view objects as small as .2 nanometers, said Dr. Harriett Smith-Somerville, professor of biological sciences and principal investigator of the $318,000 NSF Multi-user Equipment Grant, used toward the purchase.

For perspective, a nanometer is a billionth of a meter, and it takes a million of them to span a grain of sand. “We use this microscope to look at very small objects, such as isolated macromolecules or thin sections of cells,” Smith-Somerville said. “We can see very detailed information, including the inside of a cell or viruses.”

The microscope is equipped with both digital and film-based cameras. “We are submitting most of our manuscripts for publication, digitally, and we now have the advantage of not having to scan images,” she said.

Faculty and students from biological sciences, chemistry, and chemical and biological engineering will regularly use the machine which replaces an instrument used at UA since 1979. “It gives our students access to state of the art technology,” Smith-Somerville said. “We have a lot of graduate students who are also using this equipment in their research.”

Drs. Martha Powell, professor and chair of biological sciences, and Guy Caldwell, associate professor, were co-principal investigators on the project.

The grant was also used in the purchase of an ultramicrotome, which uses a diamond knife to cut consistent sections of biological samples.

This marked the second year in a row that biological sciences was awarded an NSF Multi-User Grant. Earlier, Dr. Janis O’Donnell, professor of biological sciences, was the principal investigator on a $298,570 grant used in the purchase of a confocal laser scanning microscope. This machine incorporates seven lasers, with varying wave lengths, which can be used to illuminate specimens. Dr. Ed Stephenson, professor of biological sciences, and Caldwell were co-principal investigators on this grant.

The department of biological sciences is part of UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest public liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships, and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.