Thibaudeau receives NSF funding

A national award will allow university researchers to view specimens three-dimensionally with the very latest in microscope technology.

Dr. Giselle Thibaudeau, assistant professor, biological sciences, is the principal investigator for the National Science Foundation's Academic Research Infrastructure Instrumentation Award. The three-year, $250,000 project involves a confocal laser scanning microscope, which will be housed in the Electron Microscope Center, 19 Clay Lyle Building.

To help obtain the instrument for a multiuser facility, Thibaudeau sought input from other departments which can also use the microscope. Among the other users are faculty members from Geosciences, Mechanical Engineering, Biological Sciences, Entomology, Biological Engineering, and the College of Veterinary Medicine.

Thibaudeau said the computer-run microscope's unique abilities to "see inside" materials can aid researchers in each area.

"The confocal microcope allows you to do 3-D reconstruction of things you can't typically see inside of," Thibaudeau said. "In the past, if you wanted to see inside a cell, tissue, bug, or whatever, you had to imbed it in plastic, section it, put it on a microscope slide, look at each slice, and somehow try to visualize it as if it were once again one piece.

"The confocal uses principles of laser and computer technology to focus on a given plane of an object and optically, instead of physically, section it and store the series of images for reconstruction later. Then, you're able to manipulate and analyze the 3-D image."

She plans to use the microscope in her research with aquatic embryos, but says others, such as engineers, can use it for length and volume measurements.

Thibaudeau hopes to have the microscope and a second work station in place at the EM Center by the end of February. The stations may also be accessed from individuals' offices via the Internet.

"Everyone involved in getting this award is really enthusiastic and looking forward to getting the microscope in place," she said. "Obtaining state-of-the-art instrumentation, such as this confocal microscope, is a great resource for and speaks highly of the research programs here at Mississippi State."