Two new microscopes that cost the U more than $1 million will be available for local businesses to use for a fee.
The U will host an open house Thursday to demonstrate the two electron microscopes, which can be used for nanometer scale research, to business leaders and members of the community. Until now, those interested in using such microscopes have had to travel to Brigham Young University.
One of the new state-of-the-art microscopes has the ability to make images of objects that contain fewer than 1,000 atoms, said Matt DeLong, technical facilities director in the physics department.
DeLong said a few businesses have already used the microscope — a local petrology company used it to look at rocks from different sites. The company can look at the elements and what minerals are in the rocks to determine if they should drill at the rock’s origin. A local dental company uses the microscope to look at the microscopic structures in the dental crowns it manufactures and compare the quality to the product of its competitors.
The second microscope is the newest addition and has been available for more than a week. Unlike other electron microscopes that operate only in a high vacuum, it can view biological materials with nanoscale resolution. So far, it has allowed researches to see nanoscale drug delivery systems in fine detail.
“We’re getting small here,” DeLong said.
Businesses that use the microscope will have to pay $75 per hour on weekdays and lower fees on nights and weekends. Only people who have been trained can operate the microscopes. For a fee, the U can provide an operator to businesses that don’t have their own. In addition to the use fee, these businesses will have to pay $60 per hour on weekdays and up to $80 per hour during other times.
DeLong said the use fee is still a bargain, as other universities with similar microscopes often demand significantly higher fees.
“Rice (University) charges twice as much, and it is hard to get time there,” he said.
DeLong said the fees go toward paying operators of the microscope and paying the service contract on the equipment, including the warranty.
The open house is open to the public, but those who wish to attend must pre-register by e-mailing Matt DeLong at [email protected] or calling him at 801-581-7462.
ELECTRON MICROSCOPE OPEN HOUSE
April 24
8 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.: Technical talks by U officials and the manufacturers of the microscopes and their attachments. This segment of the open house will be held in the auditorium of the Intermountain Network and Scientific Computation Center (INSCC), located immediately north of the Park Building near Presidents’ Circle.
1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.: The U will give a demonstration of the two microscopes and will use samples provided by participants as part of the display. This segment will take place in labs in the INSCC Building and the Merrill Engineering Building.
Aaron SchwendimanKamdem Thaddee, Physics major at the U, examines metal fragments on a computer screen that have been magnified by one of the two brand new microscopes in the Department of Physics at the U.