IIBR Instrumentation: All Reflective Microscopy for Biological Research

An award is made to James C Wyant College, The University of Arizona, to develop a high- performance reflective microscope for biological research. This project will advance biological research by simplifying the microscopic imaging system and enabling new biological data collection not previously possible. The microscope design will enable a better understanding of subcellular structures and cellular processes.

It will also have major societal impacts through research, education, and research training of the future U.S. research workforce on instrumentation innovation and biological sciences.

The innovation project will address unmet needs for microscope imaging for biological research. The microscope will provide new capabilities for high-resolution imaging across the spectrum from UV to far-IR. The new microscope will not only simplify the configurations of the current multimodal imaging systems and data acquisition process over a wide spectral range, but also open new doors to biological research not possible with current refractive and reflective microscopes.

The new imaging modality will enhance methods for current biological data collection and enable the collection of new biological data and information to generate knowledge and advance the field of biology.

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.