Design of an intermediate high voltage EM for 3-D studies of biological material and its integration with a system for remote access

Abstract

The increased availability of High Performance Computing and Communications (HPCC) offers scientists and students the potential for effective remote interactive use of centralized, specialized, and expensive instrumentation and computers. Examples of instruments capable of remote operation that may be usefully controlled from a distance are increasing. Some in current use include telescopes, networks of remote geophysical sensing devices and more recently, the intermediate high voltage electron microscope developed at the San Diego Microscopy and Imaging Resource (SDMIR) in La Jolla. In this presentation the imaging capabilities of a specially designed JEOL 4000EX IVEM will be described. This instrument was developed mainly to facilitate the extraction of 3-dimensional information from thick sections. In addition, progress will be described on a project now underway to develop a more advanced version of the Telemicroscopy software we previously demonstrated as a tool to for providing remote access to this IVEM (Mercurio et al., 1992; Fan et al., 1992).