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Eye on electron microscope

Electron microscopes are at the forefront of key innovations in science, engineering and medicine. Materials scientists, physicists, chemists, biochemists and engineers use electron microscopy to address fundamental scientific problems and technological issues.

Electron microscopes are not new. Ernst Ruska and Max Knoll, from the University of Berlin, developed the first transmission electron microscope (TEM) in 1931. In 1937, Manfred von Ardenne from the Electron Physics Research Laboratory in Helsinki developed the first scanning electron microscope (SEM).

Both SEM and TEM instruments are extensively used today in science, engineering and medicine research. As the name suggests, electron microscopes use electrons for imaging as compared with light, which is used by standard optical microscopy.

As electrons have smaller wavelengths than visible light, electron microscopes surpass the limitations of optical microscopes and make it possible to view microscopic objects down to atomic scale. In addition SEMs are typically equipped with ion columns that enable volume scoping of materials, facilitating three-dimensional imaging of morphology, structure and composition using secondary electrons, backscattered diffracted electrons and fluorescent X-rays.

Dalaver H. Anjum

is an assistant professor of physics at Khalifa University.

Similarly, TEMs let us explore material chemistry at atomic resolutions. Consequently, electron microscopes routinely let us view objects at the billionth of a meter (nanometer) resolution or better to characterize structure and chemical and physical properties or materials.

Electron microscopes support the imaging of materials spanning applications from engineering to health care. Analyses include two-dimensional (2D) materials, battery technology, oil and gas exploration, interplanetary dust particles and viruses, including the infamous COVID-19 virus.

Modern TEMs also image magnetic fields in materials at nanometer scales. The layered magnetic materials have applications for spintronics and quantum computing, to gain insights into intrinsic spin of the electrons and associated magnetic moments.

Research efforts in 2D materials critically depend upon the data generated with electron microscopes. Electron microscopes help to characterize the structure and properties of 2D materials at atomic-scale resolutions.

Materials properties that can be investigated with electron microscopes include optical, electronic, ferroelectric and ferromagnetic. Moreover, electron microscopes are crucial for obtaining information on the integration of different types of 2D materials with each other or bulk materials. Additionally the imaging of surface plasmons in metal structures near infrared frequencies help to develop materials with applications for future generations of wireless communications, including 6G and beyond.

The focused-ion beam-equipped SEMs in combination with TEMs also offer excellent materials-characterization opportunities for the macro-to-micro scale analysis of metals, semiconductors and soft matter such as polymer membranes and biomaterials. In each case, materials’ morphology, crystal structure and elemental composition can be studied in two or three dimensions with unparalleled spatial and energy resolutions.

Using electron microscopy to examine materials at cryogenic temperatures is called cryo-EM, and it lets us analyze biological and soft materials in their frozen but native states. These materials include bacteria, cells and viruses.

Cryo-EM has also become one of most widely used technologies and is integral to today’s drug-discovery efforts. Moreover, cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) of frozen but electron transparent thin cellular sections allows researchers to visualize the proteins at nanometer resolutions inside cells. The COVID-19 vaccine’s development demonstrated the method’s importance; its role is expected to become even more critical in pharmaceutical applications.

Electron microscopes are indispensable tools for supporting discoveries in experimental science, engineering and medicine. And using electron microscopes can support enabling future next-generation wireless technologies, artificially intelligent devices, light-metal alloys, energy-related materials and vaccine developments.

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Tech conceived during the pandemic
aims to calm a post-COVID world

A face mask developed during the pandemic to reduce stress and anxiety is evolving into a digital tool that can continue to serve its original purpose in a post-mask environment.

One of the winning teams of the 2022 Women to Impact venture of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) created a face mask called takeAbreath that monitors the wearer’s stress and anxiety levels. It then uses gaming technology to recommend breathing exercises to reduce any anxiety and stress identified.

The team – Anna-Maria Pappa, Sofia Dias and Leontios Hadjileontiadis of Khalifa University and Sahika Inal of KAUST – conceived the product during the height of the pandemic and are adapting the technology to offer relief for those who struggle with stress and anxiety.

Next generation
of face masks

People around the world wore masks in their daily lives during the pandemic to help prevent infection. Now, a new kind of mask might help diagnose illness. Read more›››

Engineers from MIT and Harvard say their new prototype can produce a COVID-19 test result in 90 minutes. The wearer breathes normally into the mask, and droplets produced by exhaling and coughing collect on a pad. The wearer then presses a button to activate the test. A small bit of water is released, flowing through the pad and rehydrating freeze-dried cells that react to the presence of coronavirus markers.After about 90 minutes, a colored line indicates whether the result is positive or negative. It looks like a pregnancy test. The team used a typical N95 mask and the results were published in Nature Biotechnology.This technology had been developed to detect other viruses such as Ebola. The MIT and Harvard teams have further plans for the technology. “We’ve demonstrated that we can freeze-dry a broad range of synthetic biology sensors to detect viral or bacterial nucleic acids, as well as toxic chemicals, including nerve toxins. We envision that this platform could enable next-generation wearable biosensors for first responders, health-care personnel and military personnel,” MIT researcher James Collins tells MIT news.Meanwhile, researchers at Khalifa University have been working on the NavaMASK, a sustainable and environmentally friendly mask made with a bio-based polymer that can be composted and integrated back into the ecosystem. “The NavaMASK not only addresses the pressing issue of mask waste but also highlights the importance of using renewable resources and minimizing environmental impact,” Shadi Hasan, director of KU’s Center for Membranes & Advanced Water Technology, tells KUST Review.‹‹‹ Read less

“In the end we do this to help people,” Pappa, who in 2019 was one of MIT Technology Review’s Innovators Under 35, tells KUST Review.

And now the team is adapting the technology into an app that, in its initial phase, begins with a simple breath into a phone and will eventually operate concurrently with wearable biosensors.

Users breathe into smartphone microphones, which capture the breath rate. The wearable biosensors read the wearers’ biological responses to stress. After the data is analyzed, the app recommends personalized breathing games to calm the heart rate and the wearer’s stress.

Breathing correctly, the team members say, is a skill people have to learn. They compare it to an athlete building endurance.

“Breathing in for seven seconds is not easy,” Dias says.

The team is working through some challenges around the many different brands of mobile devices and hopes to have a marketable product soon.

“Clearly, many development stages are on the horizon, yet we are hoping in one year to have the conceptualized idea transformed to a product. This will only happen with the intensive research efforts that we are currently undertaking, the support from Khalifa University and potential angel/venture funders,” Hadjileontiadis tells KUST Review.

The ultimate goal is for every breath to be a tool to “unlock our mindset toward stressless living,” Hadjileontiadis says.

According to the World Health Organization, stress and depression increased by 25 percent in the first year of the pandemic alone. It was so prevalent that it prompted 90 percent of countries surveyed to include mental health and psychosocial support in their COVID-19 response plans.

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Ask the Ethicist: Saving lives
while honoring religious beliefs

Habiba Al Safar

Habiba is a winner of the International L’Oréal-UNESCO Fellowship for Women in Science.

Habiba Al Safar is an Emirati geneticist, biomedical engineer and academic at Khalifa University. For her, consent and patient privacy are paramount. Also vital is respecting cultures.

I need to make sure everything complies with ethics.

– Habiba Al Safar, Emirati geneticist and biomedical engineer

She gives the example of the age when a patient can give consent. In the U.S., it’s 18. But in the UAE, where children frequently depend on their families longer, it’s 21. “Always we talk to the guardians,” she says.

Habiba Al Safar is an Emirati geneticist, biomedical engineer and academic at Khalifa University. For her, consent and patient privacy are paramount. Also vital is respecting cultures.

She gives the example of the age when a patient can give consent. In the U.S., it’s 18. But in the UAE, where children frequently depend on their families longer, it’s 21. “Always we talk to the guardians,” she says.

DILEMMA: What would you say to the following situation? A small biotechnology venture has created a potentially life-saving bioengineered “skin” for patients with severe burns. Cells used for this are derived from porcine sources.

Patients and doctors from some religious communities might not want to use the product because of this, but assuming the product formulation can’t be changed, how could the company balance saving lives with honoring the religious beliefs of potential consumers?

Katrina Bramstedt

Katrina Bramstedt is a bioethicist specializing in organ donation, transplant and medical devices. Read more›››

She’s the former chief executive of the Luxembourg Agency for Research Integrity, and prior worked for the FDA, as well as Philips and the Cleveland Clinic. An author of several books and over 100 peer-reviewed journal articles, Bramstedt is an international speaker and researcher.

Notably, she co-created an organ-donation app with Johns Hopkins University Medical Center (USA) that significantly improves the chances of patients finding a living donor for their transplant. She completed fellowship training at UCLA School of Medicine and her Ph.D. in medicine from Monash University (Melbourne, Australia).‹‹‹ Read less

THE ETHICIST: In this situation there are two delicate matters in tension, creating a dilemma. Respecting people’s culture and religious values is extremely important as these values are special and closely held.

Saving lives is another important value as this propels lineage and keeps families together to enjoy life. In some religions and cultures such as Islam and Judaism, pork consumption is prohibited.

However, life-threatening situations change the context, and blanket prohibition is not the reality.

Consider the following: Skin is a vital organ serving as a protective barrier for the body, with a special immune function that helps fight infection. In the setting of life-threatening burns, such as chemical exposure, house fires or vehicle accidents, loss of large amounts of skin is critical and patients are at risk of severe infection, dehydration and death.

And often, there is a shortage of human donor skin, and other options are needed such bioengineered-skin technologies. Considering all of these facts, there may be religiously acceptable exceptions to the general rules against pork products.

Biotechnology companies developing products with ethical sensitivity should consult with potential consumers as well as a bioethics expert. Additionally, they should carefully create patient-education materials such as brochures and websites to proactively address ethical concerns, giving patients, families and physicians honest and detailed information so they can participate in shared decision-making about product use and alternatives.