New TEM Installed in Copley

Professor James Foster

With the TEM, professors and students can collaborate on research projects involving cell ultrastructure.

2/28/13

Randolph-Macon College is the proud owner of a new transmission electron microscope (TEM). The TEM, installed in Copley Science Center on February 27, 2013, was purchased through a grant awarded in 2012 to R-MC by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The grant is under the direction of Biology Professors James Foster, Grace Lim-Fong, Wallace Martin, Melanie Gubbels Bupp and Psychology Professor Kelly Lambert. TEMs are capable of imaging at a significantly higher resolution than light microscopes.

“Alyssa Warren ’13 has already prepared cells for observation with the TEM, so it’s going to be put to immediate use for her senior research project,” says Foster. “I also plan to use the TEM for a lab in my cell biology course in a few weeks. And we are currently planning research projects involving the TEM for next summer's SURF program. This is an exciting time!”

With the TEM, professors and students can collaborate on research projects involving cell ultrastructure. The TEM will be used to evaluate the structure of synapses during adaptive stress responses; the formation of tail and head structures of sperm; cell structure of new species of fungi; the location of symbiotic bacteria in marine animals; and the maintenance and turnover of mitochondria to evaluate the effects of calorie restriction in mice.

The TEM will be available to any student doing a research project. It will also be available for collaborations with researchers at R-MC and other institutions.

Foster also plans to work with students at local schools who will visit R-MC to learn about the TEM. The “Learning Cell Structure by Doing Transmission Electron Microscopy” project aims to get young students interested in biology through a fun, hands-on experience.