{"293581":{"#nid":"293581","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Petit Institute Adds New Super-Res Microscope to Core Facilities","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EResearchers in the Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience are developing a clearer picture of biological inner space thanks to a new super-resolution fluorescence microscope, the newest piece of equipment in the institute\u2019s core facilities universe.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E \u201cI call it the million dollar microscope,\u201d says Steve Woodard, core facilities manager at the Petit Institute. \u201cThis is not the kind of equipment you\u2019re going to find on just any university campus.\u201d\u003Cbr \/\u003E \u003Cbr \/\u003EThe versatile Zeiss Elyra PS. 1 microscope was installed in the Petit Biotechnology building in late February, and it has allowed student and faculty researchers a better view of unseen elements of life.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E \u201cMy lab has already used it to resolve how nanoparticles cluster on the cell surface, which is really neat because normally, nanoparticles are too small to resolve,\u201d says Christine Payne, Petit Institute faculty member and associate professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry. \u003Cbr \/\u003E \u003Cbr \/\u003EGetting a closer, clearer look at how nanoparticles interact with cells could lead to the design of improved drug delivery systems, says Payne, who serves on the Core Facilities Advisory Committee and suggested to the group that the Petit Institute could really benefit from the state-of-the-art microscope. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E They readily agreed, and she took the lead in submitting the grant proposal that secured $469,000 through the National Science Foundation\u2019s Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program, designed to increase access to shared scientific and engineering equipment for universities and other non-profit research centers. \u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E \u201cYou see, here was a researcher who identified a need for facilities, and had the backing and support of the Petit Institute,\u201d says Woodard with the air of someone who has seen this happen before, because he has.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E Woodard has seen core facilities grow all around him in the nearly 20 years he\u2019s been with the Petit Institute, from one confocal microscope in a single room to $15 million of equipment \u2013 50 pieces scattered over 3,000 feet of unconnected space, and this latest piece arrived in similar fashion to all the other stuff that came before it.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E \u201cIt really took a group effort, in every sense,\u201d Woodard says.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E For one thing, according to Payne, about 25 people were involved in the proposal to get the microscope, including the Petit Institute\u2019s grand administrator, Rachel Cochran. But the team approached worked especially well when it came down to counting pennies.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E NSF granted almost half a million, and Woodward says, \u201cwe were still short, but the College of Engineering and the College of Sciences, as well as the Petit Institute, really stepped up the plate and made it happen.\u201d\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E So did the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, the School of Biology, and the School of Physics. That collective largesse brings to the Petit Institute a versatile microscope, designed to take imaging beyond the diffraction limit of standard confocal microscopy, utilizing either structured illumination microscopy (SIM) to increase the resolving capabilities down to about 100 nm (nanometers), or photo activation light microscopy (PALM), to resolve down to 20 nm.\u003Cbr \/\u003E \u003Cbr \/\u003E The main advantage of fluorescence microscopy, as opposed to something like electron microscopy, is its compatibility with living cells.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E \u201cThis microscope uses what I\u2019d call optical tricks and specialized image processing systems to get you down to an amazing level of resolution, beyond the normal resolution of visible light,\u201d Payne says. \u201cOne of the advantages of that is, we can use live cells. And that\u2019s a big deal because we like to use live samples.\u201d\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E Her grad students apparently like the new microscope so much they invited the co-developer of the first super-high-resolution PALM microscope, Eric Betzig, to be their speaker at the Peter B. Sherry Lecture (Thursday and Friday, April 24-25). It\u2019s an annual event hosted by the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry\u2019s Graduate Student Forum.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E In Thursday night\u2019s opening lecture, Betzig, whose lab develops optical imaging tools at Janelia Farm (part of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute outside Washington, D.C.), gave a rundown of his history in the field, and where Janelia\u2019s groundbreaking research is headed, to the approximately 100 students and faculty in attendance.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E Betzig, one of the innovators in his field, spoke frankly and humorously (and occasionally bluntly) about advancements in microscopy. Bottom line: There\u2019s lots of inner space left to explore.|\u003Cbr \/\u003E \u201cThe good news is,\u201d Betzig says, \u201cthat the standard tools biologists use to study live cells leave a lot of room for improvement.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Microscope will give closer, clearer look at how nano particles interact with cells"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMicroscope will give closer, clearer look at how nano particles interacts with cells\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Microscope will give closer, clearer look at how nano particles interact with cells"}],"uid":"27195","created_gmt":"2014-04-28 11:57:29","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:16:18","author":"Colly Mitchell","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-04-28T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2014-04-28T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"293731":{"id":"293731","type":"image","title":"Christine Payne, PhD, and Steve Woodard with the Petit Institute\u0027s new core facility Super Resolution Microscrope","body":null,"created":"1449244313","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:51:53","changed":"1475894991","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:49:51","alt":"Christine Payne, PhD, and Steve Woodard with the Petit Institute\u0027s new core facility Super Resolution Microscrope","file":{"fid":"199311","name":"paynechristineandwoodardsteve-cropped.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/paynechristineandwoodardsteve-cropped_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/paynechristineandwoodardsteve-cropped_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":588224,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/paynechristineandwoodardsteve-cropped_0.jpg?itok=0pOkHO7O"}},"293571":{"id":"293571","type":"image","title":"Christine Payne, PhD - School of Chemistry \u0026 Biochemistry","body":null,"created":"1449244313","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:51:53","changed":"1475894991","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:49:51","alt":"Christine Payne, PhD - School of Chemistry \u0026 Biochemistry","file":{"fid":"199309","name":"paynechristine.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/paynechristine_0.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/paynechristine_0.png","mime":"image\/png","size":111877,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/paynechristine_0.png?itok=UP61oh4w"}}},"media_ids":["293731","293571"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/openwetware.org\/wiki\/Payne_Lab","title":"Payne Lab"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.ibb.gatech.edu\/core-facilities","title":"IBB Core Facilities"}],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"}],"categories":[{"id":"141","name":"Chemistry and Chemical Engineering"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003EParker H. Petit Instistute for Bioengineering \u0026amp; Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}