March 19, 2007, Peabody, Mass. — JEOL USA hosted the spring meeting of the New England Society for Microscopy (NESM) at its Peabody, Massachusetts headquarters on Thursday, March 15. NESM, celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, is a local affiliate of the Microscopy Society of America (MSA). The organization held its first inaugural meeting in 1967 at JEOL USA.
NESM is dedicated to the promotion and advancement of the science and practice of all microscopical imaging, analysis, and diffraction techniques. JEOL USA is a wholly-owned subsidiary of JEOL Ltd., Japan, a global supplier of scientific instruments including electron microscopes and spectrometers.
Prior to the conference, NESM members enjoyed the opportunity to meet for a buffet dinner and to tour JEOL’s demonstration laboratories where they saw the company’s newest tungsten and field emission scanning electron microscopes (SEMs).
About 30 people attended this informative meeting that featured talks by two experts in the field of microscopy whose diverse applications - biology and materials science – involve specialized analytical methods.
Invited Speakers Discuss Specific Imaging Techniques for Biology and Materials Science
Dr. Cameron Ackerley of The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto Canada, discussed imaging of sensitive biological samples using cryo and wet live cell imaging techniques. He outlined obstacles to overcome in the imaging of sensitive samples using backscatter electron imaging, which can lead to extensive beam damage. Procedures include minimizing electron beam dwell time on the specimen by physically eliminating electron beam exposure during the time that the image is frozen following acquisition. He also described the use of the most appropriate backscatter electron detector and instrument conditions, and the fastest acquisition speed, especially when trying to capture a dynamic event.
Dr. Yong Zhang, Research Specialist, Center for Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, outlined investigation of Sm(Co, Cu, Fe, Zr) 2:17 based magnets which have the best high temperature behavior among all current advanced permanent magnets. He explained a systematic study done to understand the evolution of microstructure, microchemistry and coercivity of sintered Sm(Co,Cu,Fe,Zr)6.4 magnets with heat treatment using vibrating sample magnetometry, transmission electron microscopy, Lorentz microscopy, and nanoprobe chemical analysis.
The meeting at JEOL was organized by Donna Guarrera, Assistant SEM Product Manager, JEOL USA, Inc., and NESM Material Science Director. Donna has served on the board of NESM for the past three years. JEOL has been a corporate member of NESM for since 1967.
The next NESM meeting will feature a workshop on “Imaging with High Resolution in the Transmission Electron Microscope” on Thursday, May 3rd, 2007 at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The workshop will be followed on Friday and Saturday, May 4th and 5th by the annual NESM Spring Symposium.