Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

Direct observation and documentation are fundamental tools common to all scientific endeavour. Accurate representation and analysis of objects is critical, whether studying natural phenomena, experimental results, or manufactured products. Here, we seek to purchase an innovative imaging and analytical instrument called a Hitachi TM 3000 variable pressure benchtop scanning electron microscope (SEM). This unit will also be equipped with a Bruker Quantax 70 energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS). This instrument is capable of imaging specimens up to 30,000X without special sample preparation, as required for traditional SEM. This is a critical advantage if one is interested in conducting further work on the object under study. One can actually image living specimens at a level of magnification well beyond a light microscope. On the analytical side, the EDS will enable the identification and quantification of any element in the periodic table from Boron upwards. The combination of these two technologies in a single instrument means that the spatial precision with which elemental analysis can be performed and imaged well exceeds that currently available for a benchtop instrument. The TM 3000 is a versatile imaging and analytical device. With it, several disparate research programs in basic and applied research at St. Francis Xavier University will be supported: (i) evolution and development of marine invertebrates; (ii) design, testing and manufacture of novel surfaces and coatings to suppress marine biofouling; (iii) detailed geochronological analyses to test hypotheses about Pangea, the formation and reformation of supercontinents; (iv) transport and deposition of metals in high temperature and pressure aqueous fluids and silicate melts as related to ore formation in the earth's crust and; (v) the effects of ocean acidification on calcification in red algae and heavy metal bioaccumulation in commercially important seaweeds. This instrument will be the first of its kind in Atlantic Canada. The diverse research programs it will support indicates its broad utility and its promise as valuable imaging and analytical infrastructure.