$2.4 million instrument upgrade will let scientists see what is happening inside microbes​​

$2.4 million instrument upgrade will let scientists see what is happening inside microbes​​

The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded David Fike, PhD, associate professor of earth and planetary sciences, $2.4 million to adapt a powerful chemical microscope called the 7F-GEO SIMS for biological samples. The updated instrument’s ability to map the chemistry inside cells will boost research on microbes that are promising candidates for biofuel or bioenergy production.

Researcher seeks ways to sequester carbon dioxide

Photo by David Kilper / WUSTL PhotoGiammar discusses a batch reaction cell.As global temperatures continue to rise, many methods have been proposed to deal with the excess of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. An environmental engineer at Washington University in St. Louis just wants the problem to go away – out of the atmosphere, into the earth.