SIUC's Center for Advanced Friction Studies uses it to derive data from brakes they use for experiments. Microbiologists, plant biologists and medical biochemists use the microscopes to study newly discovered organisms or to study changes in the cell architecture that may reveal clues about cell development or the physiological process in normal or diseased cells. In the area of viral diagnosis, especially of new viruses, the electron microscope is an indispensable tool. For example, newly emerged viruses, such as HIV or Ebola, were hard to diagnose by conventional methods because the viruses either did not grow well in cultures or other diagnostic test kits had not been developed. Graduate-level courses on scanning and transmission electron microscopy are available at the center.
Students start on the older equipment and move to the newer as they increase their experience.
We invite students to bring in specimens to view in our microscopes. Often students record the images and can play back the information later in their classrooms. It is very refreshing for our staff to see the excitement that our instruments can generate in young investigators. After all, one of these youngsters may one day become a prominent scientist.