Diatomaceous Earth Magnified 2,500 times

For Spring semester 2009 The Electron Microscopy Facility collaborated with Prof. Erick Greene in a two week electron microscopy lab module. Our purpose was to allow students to observe biological structures beyond what is visible to the naked eye or through a light microscope. To do this we used the transmission and scanning electron microscopes in our facility to provide images of macrophages, pollen, and diatomaceous earth. Arriving in small groups the 300 lab students got a tour of the facility and observed various images in the TEM and SEM. During the second week we used our remote access capability to show the individual lab sections images of the samples they had prepared. This allowed them to compare views of diatomaceous earth and pollen taken with a dissecting microscope and a light microscope with images at much higher resolution and magnification from the facility’s SEM. Our remote access function showed the classes live images from the SEM streamed over the internet while the SEM’s operator, Jim Driver, provided commentary about the structures observed.

The Missoula County Public School’s Gifted and Talented Program is holding a Gifted Education Conference for Kids at The University of Montana on May 19, 2009.  The EM Facility will be providing 2 90-minute workshops entitled “Discover What Your Eyes Have Been Missing” for the conference.  Each workshop will have a 60 minute hands-on session where the students will observe common objects, attempt to identify them using hand lenses and light microscopes, answer questions about the objects, and see SEM images of the objects at high resolution and magnification.  Each group will then visit the EM facility to see the electron microscopes in action.  Although it may be a tight fit with 12 students in each group we have found that showing them the actual instruments can help kids understand the technology behind the images on the screen.

On April 22nd the EM facility provided a remote access session for Melissa Henthorn’s biology class at Missoula’s Hellgate High School.  Will Skyrud, a student in her class had been interning with the Dr. Tony Ward and Carolyn Hester from the Center for Environmental Health Sciences.  Dr. Ward’s lab is studying asbestos from the Libby, MT vermiculite mine.  Will was engaged in isolation and identification of asbestos fractions from the mine tailings.  He spent time in the EM facility training on use of the electron microscopes and using the SEM to characterize size fractions of Libby asbestos.

We also collaborated with students in Melissa Henthorn’s class in collection and imaging of airborne particulates from inside the classroom and at a site outside the University of Montana. During the remote session the class was able to see the types and sizes of particles collected at the sites through the scanning electron microscope.  Will Skyrud and Jim Driver provided a running commentary comparing the larger particles collected such as pollen grains to the particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter (PM 2.5).  It is PM 2.5 that has been linked to lung dysfunction and certain chronic diseases such as asthma.  Our purpose was to allow students to see the difference between larger particulate matter types usually screened from the lung and the smaller particles capable of penetrating deep into the lung.