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Microscopy News by Heather Hobbs SuperSTEM Consortium Launches EPSRC National Facility


A new facility that allows scientists to study properties of materials more clearly at the atomic level, was officially launched on January 11 at STFC Daresbury. The EPSRC National Facility for Aberration-Corrected Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy will provide easier access to electron microscopes tuned to take account of lens distortions. The new facility will build on the work already carried out at Daresbury which has, for example, enabled international researchers to examine new materials including single atom thick structures like graphene.


Electron microscopes, like their optical predecessors, suffer from image distortion which requires powerful computers and a series of magnets to rebalance the electron probe used to examine materials, this is known as aberration-correction.


In 2003 the pioneering SuperSTEM facility opened the frontiers of electron microscopy to the scientific community by becoming the first user centre in the world to provide access to these types of corrected microscopes. Now, after a competitive tendering process, EPSRC has awarded the SuperSTEM Consortium the status of National Facility for


Aberration-Corrected STEM which will build on EPSRC’s previous investment in this resource.


Super STEM Chair Professor Rik Brydson, said: “Electron microscopy has undergone a revolution in recent years with leaps in the performance of electron optical elements, sources and detectors. While instruments are becoming ever more powerful their complexity is also multiplied. This trend places renewed emphasis on national facilities that gather in one place state-of-the-art instrumentation and world-leading experts in the field. This new facility will do just that and is already bringing in results that open up new opportunities in science. We are most grateful to EPSRC for its support for our work.” EPSRC’s Head of Physical Sciences, Dr Andrew Bourne who performed the opening ceremony, said: “This National Facility will provide UK researchers with an internationally renowned resource in which they can carry out exciting experiments at the nanoscale. EPSRC is pleased to be working with the SuperSTEM Consortium and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) to open up this new vista for microscopy.”


The SuperSTEM team and invited speakers. TO FIND OUT MORE CIRCLE NO. 247 Awards Scoop for Microscopy Business Group


Carl Zeiss NTS Ltd, part of the newly formed Carl Zeiss Microscopy business group recently won four awards — three Best Factory 2011 Awards and one Manufacturing Excellence Award.


The company´s family of advanced scanning electron microscopes manufactured in Cambridge gained the award for Best Electronics; the EVO and Sigma type systems have been used for applications in life sciences, such as searching for cures for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases and materials analysis as well as in a number of industrial applications, including quality control, process control and particle analysis.


The People Management Award was also presented for the company’s strong training ethics and a Health & Safety award was earned, in part,


by the Cambridge factory’s five-year run without a single reportable accident despite operating potentially hazardous equipment. The company proudly accepted all three prizes at a gala awards ceremony attended by several hundred industry leaders at the Park Lane Hotel in London. Dr Marek Szwejczewski, Director, Best Factory Awards, summed it up when he said, “It takes some outfit to get to the winner’s rostrum - but to be nominated for consideration in five categories and chalk up outright wins in three is an achievement with few precedents. That is the magnitude of Carl Zeiss’ achievement this year.” The company was also recently honoured by winning the Autodesk Award for Innovation in Products and Processes at the Institute of Mechanical Engineers (IME) Manufacturing Excellence Awards held in London during November.


TO FIND OUT MORE CIRCLE NO. 248 Leica Receives Top Award for Customer Focus


Leica Biosystems GmbH in Nussloch has won a national industry award, the Manufacturing Excellence (MX) 2011, in the Customer Focus Category. The company’s plant in Nussloch near Heidelberg, which has 336 employees specilaises in specimen preparation products including cryostats, microtomes, automatic coverslippers and tissue processors.


The jury decided that customer involvement in the development of the products, customer satisfaction surveys and tailored product solutions designed to ease the customers’ workload set Leica Biosystems apart from their competitors. Questionnaires sent out with every product give Leica customers a platform for more detailed feedback, providing product managers, sales reps, and service technicians with valuable tips for potential improvements and influencing each step of the product development process. Leica Biosystems also won the MX Award for its substantial improvements to product quality and delivery performance.


“Our customers expect a great deal of products for their laboratory and


At the award ceremony in Berlin: Arnd Kaldowski, President Leica Biosystems, with Consul Dr Georg Claessens, Managing Director of sponsor Logwin Solutions Management GmbH (left) and Stefan Weigel, Deputy Chief Editor Financial Times Deutschland (right), who presented the event. Picture: Oliver Krato


research facilities. Leica Biosystems never forgets that every lab sample comes from a patient whose tissue is being examined. We feel obliged to accept the challenge of preparing each tissue sample in an optimal way so that the pathologist can make the best possible diagnosis while keeping the time the patient has to wait for the result to a minimum,” emphasised Arnd Kaldowski, President Leica Biosystems, at the award presentation ceremony in the Axel-Springer-Haus in Berlin. Among the finalists in the Customer Focus, Product Innovation, Process Innovation, and Information Technology categories were also the two German Leica Microsystems plants in Wetzlar and Mannheim.


TO FIND OUT MORE CIRCLE NO. 250


FEI Buys Aspex Corporation


FEI has acquired Aspex Corporation which provides rugged scanning electron microscopes (SEMs) and related services for environmentally demanding military, industrial and factory floor applications.


“The Aspex EXtreme™ SEM is an integral part of our QEMSCAN® WellSite™ solution for on-site oil and gas solutions,” noted Don Kania, President and CEO of FEI. “With this acquisition, FEI now owns the essential hardware and software that has been part of our rapid growth and expanding potential in the Natural Resources business. In addition, Aspex has a solid track record of applications in a range of industrial markets, including metals, industrial automation, defense, health sciences and forensics.”


“Combining with FEI gives us resources, technology and market access to build on our success to date,” commented Gregory Ott, President and Chief Operating Officer of Aspex. “In addition to helping to develop the company’s Natural Resources opportunity, we believe FEI’s technology strength and global reach will help us to expand further in the other markets we serve.”


The purchase price for the acquisition was $30.5 million. Revenue for Aspex totaled $10.0 million, and the company was profitable for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2011. Revenue has grown at a compound annual rate of 24% since 2006, a report said.


TO FIND OUT MORE CIRCLE NO. 249


SEND ALL YOUR MICROSCOPY NEWS STORIES TO:


HEATHER @INTLABMATE.COM


INTERNATIONAL LABMATE - JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012


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