Highlights

STAFF

JO WOZNIAK who worked as a student in the VMIL for several years, has been hired as the full-time user consultant in the VMIL. Jo graduated from UIUC with a degree in industrial engineering and we're very happy to welcome Jo as a full time staff member of the ITG.

GLENN FRIED has joined the ITG as a senior research scientist and will be responsible for all of the Light and Scanning Probe Microscopes (fluorescence, dissecting, confocal, stereology, NSOM and AFM). Glenn is looking forward to working with the users to develop new applications using these instruments.

FELIX WONG graduated and found full time employment up in Chicago.

Anna Klintsova and Steve Rogers have both returned to full time research careers. We wish them all well. We are grateful to Joe Roland who temporarily provided expertise on light microscopy for the Suite. Scott Robinson will assume all the responsibilities for the transmission electron microscope, ultramicrotome and related equipment.

Equipment

VMIL

• WORKSTATIONS
• Intergraph GX1 Dual-Processor Graphics(2)
• Kryotech 900MHz Athlon
• Apple Macintosh G4-400(2)
• Apple Macintosh G3-400
• IMAGING
• Lasergrapihics LFR-MARK III Film Recorder
• Nikon LS-2000 35MM Slide Scanner with Autofeeder
• Macbeth TR-1224 Densiometer (Transmissive/Reflective)
• Kodak DC-260 Digital Camera
• Kodak DCS-330 Professional SLR-Based Digital Camera
• AUDIO/VIDEO
• Folsom Research CGC-4000 Scan Converter
• AKG Solidtub Microphone
• Aphex 107 Preamplifier
• Sony TRV-95 HI8 Camcorder
• Media 100 QX-NT Video Capture System
• New A/V Wiring, Rack, Patching System, Monitors

MICROSCOPY SUITE

• AFM
• A Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM) Head has been added to the Nanoscope AFM
• Disc Capacity has been increased to 8GB
• CONFOCAL
• New Photomultipier Tubes have been installed. These PMT's have a much higher sensitivity, and are Peltier cooled to reduce noise levels.
• DARKROOM
• A new Ilford Photographic Print Processor has been installed
• DISSECTION
• ImagePro+ Software Package has been upgraded to 4.0
• ESEM
• A Philips XL-30 Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope was intslled in January 1999. The system is capable of imaging under wet and low vacuum conditions and is equipped with a Field Emmission Gun and an X-ray analysis system.
• New Denton DESK II TSC Turbo Spuuter Coater has been installed in the wet lab.
• Bug-on-a-spit: A device has been constructed to allow users of the ESEM to observe and photograph a pin-mounted museum insect (or other specimen) in "wet" mode.
• Micromanipulator/Microinjector(MMI): This device may be used to manipulate specimens inside the chamber or to inject liquids onto the surface of the specimen
• A new Large Field Detector allows for imaging of larger fields of view with improved contrast and resolution.
• An Electrical Feedthrough port adjacent to the stage door has been installed.
• An S-VHS videotape recorder, including a separate monitor has been installed.
• FLUORESCENCE
• A New Hammamatsu C4724 Orca Black and White 10-Bit CCD Camera
• MCID Software Package has been upgraded to version 4.0
• A New Color Camera has been installed
• NSOM
• A New Camera for large-scale sampling imaging
• New Krion Laser provides lines primarily in the red
• A new camera was installed on the inverted microscope system
• WORKSHOPS

  Workshop on Automated Control of Distributed Instrumentation (ACDI-99) was held April 22-23, 1999 at the Beckman Institute. The workshop was aimed at providing an interdisciplinary forum for exchange of information on automated control of distributed imaging instrumentation. The workshop was focused on applications for automated control of instrumentation (microscopy, robotics, machine vision, etc.), as well as the enabling technologies (distributed computing architectures, networking, and operating systems) necessary to support these applications.

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