A Nanoscale View of Life’s Building Blocks

A new atomic force microscope (AFM) arriving at Smith this fall will help enrich teaching, learning, and research in the life sciences.

The equipment—supported by an education and training grant of $252,194 from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC)—will provide faculty and students with access to imaging techniques that are becoming key to a growing number of life-science disciplines.

The new microscope, which replaces an outdated 2001 model, provides images at the nanoscale: billionths of a meter. In addition, it can produce images with minimal preparation of samples.

The equipment will be used in five faculty research labs across the chemistry, biological sciences, biochemistry and engineering departments.

“It will also draw students from across the curriculum,” says Kate Queeney, Carol Tecla Christ Professor of Chemistry, who coordinated Smith’s grant application to the MLSC. “The AFM has gone from being a niche instrument to a really important tool for many aspects of life sciences. I know my students have been dying to use this technology.”

Associate Professor of Chemistry Maren Buck, another faculty member who helped write the grant proposal, says the arrival of the new microscope builds on Smith’s track record of advanced microscopy. 

“Smith already has an impressive array of state-of-the-art instrumentation,” Buck says. “The AFM will contribute to that array by offering a new kind of imaging capability.”

As for research, the AFM promises to boost scientific knowledge in a number of disciplines.

“Interactions at the molecular level are what drive biology. But so much of what happens at that scale is still just nonintuitive to us,” says Associate Professor of Biological Sciences Nate Derr, who is among the faculty members who will begin using the AFM this fall. “This equipment provides us access to that [nanoscale] realm. It’s a huge step up.”

Here is some additional information about the new microscope:

How does it work?
An atomic force microscope has a sharp tip that scans molecular surfaces in a way that’s often described as similar to how an old-fashioned record player needle traces the grooves of a vinyl record. Atoms on the molecular surfaces interact with the atoms on the microscope’s tip, and those interactions are converted to a topographical map of the sample. 

What can the AFM help scientists “see”?
Instead of using light or electrons the way other microscopes do, the AFM uses the “touch” of its tip to measure molecular-scale properties of chemical and biological samples. Those properties include not only the nanoscale topography of surfaces and molecules, but also their mechanical and electrical properties. The microscope can also map the way groups of atoms are positioned in complex molecules such as DNA and RNA.

What research advances can benefit from imaging by AFMs?
AFMs are used by scientists doing research on topics ranging from drug delivery to gene therapy. At Smith, faculty will use the equipment to support studies of biochemical sensing, lipid and protein behavior in cell membranes, the fate and transport of microbial pollutants in aquatic systems—and other ongoing research in chemistry, biochemistry, biological sciences, and engineering. 

When will the microscope be operational at Smith?
After the new equipment is installed in Ford Hall in October, faculty from the initial five research labs will be trained in its use. Access will then be expanded into academic courses in chemistry, biology, and engineering, and training will be offered to faculty members and students across campus who want to use the new equipment.