NSF Grant Supports Microscope Acquisition

Skidmore received a whopping holiday gift a bit early this year, in the form of a new Variable Pressure Scanning Electron Microscope and Energy Dispersive Spectrometer X-ray Analysis System. A $234,000 grant from the National Science Foundation has provided funding for the instruments, which will be housed in the College's Microscopy Imaging Center.

The new equipment, which arrived Dec. 13, will be put to quick use by faculty and students in the departments of biology, geosciences, anthropology, chemistry, and physics. They will use the instruments to conduct collaborative research, to enrich activities in upper-level microscopy courses, and to further several community outreach programs.

Professor David Domozych, biology, and Associate Professor Richard Lindemann, geosciences, are co-principal investigators for the NSF grant, and each has specialized research projects that will be enhanced through the use of the use new equipment.

Domozych is eager to pursue his investigation of microbes in freshwater wetland communities. He is examining algal-based biofilms and the structure and development of the extracellular matrix (ECM) of a special group of green algae, the desmids. The role of the ECM in the formation, structure, and development of wetland biofilms is of particular interest to Domozych. "I am looking at the cellular mechanisms involved in a desmid's entrance into a biofilm community. In aquatic ecosystems like Adirondack wetlands, most microbes are typically found in complex, biofilm communities that are attached to solid substrates. There is an incredibly diverse population of algae in these biofilms, and they are very significant to photosynthetic production. In fact, transient wetlands of the Northern Hemisphere are more productive than even tropical rainforests," he explained.

Biofilm-based desmids produce complex ECMs consisting of multilayered cell walls that are often traversed by arrays of pores or pore organs. To move, the algae secrete gel-like extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), which also protect the cell structure and help the algae attach to a surface.

His study of the structure of complex freshwater microbial communities will focus on environmental events that trigger EPS production. The new scanning electron microscope will enable detailed study of the EPS architecture, helping researchers to accurately and efficiently study EPS-related phenomena in desmids and biofilms.

Domozych's freshwater community is an isolated beaver pond in Porter Corners. He typically has five to 10 student collaborators each year. They will be actively involved in learning and applying the new technology to study biofilms of wetlands.

Lindemann, chair of the geosciences department, is conducting a comprehensive study of dacryoconarid occurrences in Middle Devonian marine strata of New York State. He also hopes to develop a database of dacryoconarid individuals to identify known species, diagnose and describe new species, and develop a set of biozones in eastern North America that correlates with global standards.

Lindemann is the only paleobiologist in North America – and one of few in the world – currently pursuing this research topic, which he discovered unintentionally while a doctoral student. Dacryoconarids are an extinct species of marine organisms that once thrived in the world's oceans. Tremendously diverse, their fossils are now found in vast numbers in Devonian-age rock. Research such as Lindemann's can increase knowledge of how migrations of marine organisms took place as parts of continents were flooded, leading to the intermingling of formerly separate oceans. The study of minute organisms can shed light on times of abrupt change in marine environments.

He explained, "This helps us to understand our surroundings – the driving mechanisms that reorganize the biosphere."

By examining the microstructure and trace element geochemistry of the shells, he hopes to develop chemical maps of the shells that will act as tree rings do to document patterns of growth, which will enable him to determine whether or not there is an evolutionary relationship between the extinct dacryoconarids and the mollusks of today.

To explain how the VPSEM system will facilitate his research, Lindemann said, "If you were to examine a sand grain at high magnification, you'd find little gouges and dings. The new scanning electron microscope will tell you not only what the grain is but also will explain any 'chatter marks' on the grain, and will tell you the grain's origin." Applied to the interdisciplinary Water Resources Initiative (see story on the Rathmann Family Foundation grant, this issue) these observations will enable Lindemann and collaborating students to interpret the transport mechanisms that delivered sediment to the Kayderosseras Creek and the upper Hudson River. The WRI offers the chance for community-based research.

Students in his upper-level geoscience courses, Paleobiology and Stratigraphy, will be able to use the new technology to observe and identify microfossils, to determine the relative ages of rock strata and interpret the transport of sediment particles in new ways.

Other faculty who will use the new instruments for their research include the following:

• Steven Frey, associate professor of chemistry, in his analysis of the structure of natural and synthetic clays;
  
• Pat Fidopiastis, assistant professor of biology, in her study of the structure of bacterial biofilms in squid, including elemental mapping of EPS extracts;
  
• Susan Bender, professor of anthropology, in her examination of chert artifacts. Chert is a rock that resembles flint.

Installation of the new equipment is under way, with training to be provided to faculty during the semester break. The new microscope will be housed in the Robert Mahoney Electron Microscopy Laboratory in Dana Science Center, part of the Skidmore Microscopy Imaging Center. For more information about the center, visit the web site.

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