University microscope to boost tech appeal

A $1.4 million transmission electron microscope research facility at the University of Nevada, Reno, is expected to further boost development of hightechnology industry in the region.

University officials said the microscope facility puts UNR among the top materials research institutions in the nation.

And that's music to the ears of Alison Estee, executive director of the state's Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology.

"The more UNR can beef itself up, the easier time we will have in attracting new companies," Estee said last week.

As state economic officials increasingly become aware of research under way at the university, Estee said they become more intrigued with the possibilities of helping companies bring products out of the research lab and into the marketplace.

The new microscope facility, which can magnify particles as much as five million times, will allow researchers to see items almost as small as an individual atom.

Manoranjan Misra, the principal investigator on the project, said the microscope facility could be used for projects such as development of nanofibers to remove small contaminants from water or creation of materials for the controlled release of drugs.

Other possible uses include development of machines that are smaller than a human hair.

More than 20 faculty researchers from UNR and the Desert Research Institute are expected to use the facility.

The National Science Foundation awarded Misra and his co-principal investigator, Shantanu Namjoshi, $800,000 for the facility.

UNR kicked in the remaining $600,000.

The new transmission electronic microscope will work alongside a recently purchased field emission microscope and an atomic microscope in the UNR facility.