Research Infrastructure Investment Program awards over $5 million

CSE researchers receive five of the 13 awards to improve research facilities

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL (07/09/2024) —  The University of Minnesota Research and Innovation Office has awarded $2.6 million to 13 projects as part of the 2024 Research Infrastructure Investment Program, including five projects that will benefit researchers in the College of Science and Engineering.

One-to-one matching funds provided by supporting units resulted in just over $5 million in total funds awarded. The awards will improve research infrastructure, facilities, and support services across the University.

The five CSE projects include:

Addressing University-wide Capability Gap with Two 3D Laser Scanning Microscopes

Shaul Hanany, School of Physics & Astronomy, College of Science and Engineering
Matching funds: College of Science and Engineering

This project will use the new funding for two Keyence VK-X3050 3D Laser Scanning Microscopes, which will fill a capability gap that the University currently faces.

The microscope will be able to handle samples from 1 micrometer to around 50 cm in diameter. With this imaging, it will be able to show details as small as 0.25 micrometers across and with a depth resolution of 0.1 nanometers vertically.

The new microscopes will each be installed in and managed by Minnesota Nano Center and the College of Science and Engineering’s Characterization Facility. Researchers within these facilities along with other researchers who find accessing the cleanroom to be difficult. 

With its fast, non-destructive imaging spanning lengths scales and resolutions not available by any other instrument on campus, they will accelerate current projects and will enable new directions of advancement for researchers across campus. The unique large sample stage does not exist in neighboring states and will strengthen the University’s stature as a regional center of expertise and capabilities.

Upgrades to Optical Imaging and Spectroscopy with the Mt. Lemmon Observing Facility Telescope

Patrick Kelly, School of Physics and Astronomy, College of Science and Engineering

Funding from this program will provide upgrades to the University of Minnesota's 60-inch telescope that is located near the summit of Mt. Lemmon, AZ. With these upgrades, researchers will be able to quickly capture images using different wavelengths of light and be able to analyze the spectra of supernova explosions and neutron star mergers right after they're detected.

Fundamental questions about the synthesis of elements in these explosions, and what powers these explosions, particularly at their early stages, have persisted partly because of the difficulty of observing them shortly after eruption. With the new ability to acquire rapid, simultaneous optical and near-infrared imaging and spectroscopy could yield unique data on young explosions.

Robotic operation, and mounted optical and near-infrared cameras will support interdisciplinary collaborations initiated by the Data Science in Multi-Messenger Astrophysics program which brings together astrophysics, data science, statistics, and machine learning faculty across four departments and two colleges. 

Advanced Nanoparticle Analysis Tool for the Minnesota Nano Center

Steven Koester, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Science and Engineering
Matching funds: College of Science and Engineering

The Minnesota Nano Center will acquire a new instrument for the analysis of nanoparticles–particles smaller in size than one micrometer with the new funding. These small particles are of interest to a wide range of fields and researchers, including material science and chemical engineering, medicine, life sciences, environmental sciences, and agriculture. 

The instrument uses nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA), an advanced technique that can quickly determine particle size distribution and concentration in an automated, reliable process. The NTA tools also provide measurements of other key particle properties and will allow researchers to use particle labeling techniques similar to those used with fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry. 

This will upgrade the Minnesota Nano Center’s ten-year-old previous generation NTA instrument that is currently the most heavily used tool in Minnesota Nano Center’s Nanomaterials Lab. Upgrading this instrument will prevent frequent failures and instrument downtime. The new NTA will be housed in a core lab.

Advancing the capabilities of the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory Main Channel Facility

Jeffrey Marr, St. Anthony Falls Lab - SAFL, College of Science and Engineering
Matching funds: College of Science and Engineering

The new funding for this project will focus on rehabilitation and updates to St. Anthony Falls Laboratory’s (SAFL) most utilized indoor research channel - The Main Channel. 

The Channel is one of the largest hydraulic research channels in the nation and sources water directly from the Mississippi and can operate around-the-clock.

The new funding will add advanced control and monitoring systems to provide researchers precision control on flow rates, depth, and other hydraulic variables. The current control systems are original to the inception of this laboratory in 1938, and limit researchers’ ability to reliably operate the facility. 

This project will also provide rehabilitation to the sediment recirculation system. With the upgrades, the Main Channel will improve usability and expand the range of collaborative research that can be supported within the facility. The updated Main Channel facility will support the following research areas: hydropower and marine energy; open-channel hydraulics; fluvial sediment transport; deterrence/barriers of aquatic invasive species; fluvial transport, sorting, and burial of bones in the fossil record.

Upgrades for the University of Minnesota Zebrafish Core Facility

Mark Masino, Department of Neuroscience, Medical School
Matching funds: College of Biological Sciences; School of Dentistry; Medical School; College of Science and Engineering

The University of Minnesota Zebrafish Core Facility (UMNZCF) is an integral component of the research and teaching missions of the university. The UMNZCF houses approximately 10,000 zebrafish and the staff ensures daily feedings of adult and larval zebrafish, mating/breeding, collections of embryos, provides husbandry services and maintains microscopy resources for investigators who use zebrafish as a model organism. 

Past awards from the Office of the Vice President for Research, were used to replace the outdated Reverse Osmosis and Recirculating Water systems. These systems provide clean water free of salts or impurities, which is essential in maintaining a healthy fish colony. 

The new funding will be used to purchase new housing and breeding tanks and new pressure injector systems, which will directly benefit the researchers in the facility and will enhance research productivity.

Other University projects that will be funded include:

• Comprehensive Lab Animal Monitor System (CLAMS)-HC for the study of mouse metabolism (Medical School)
• Replacement of greenhouse lighting with energy efficient LEDs (College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences)
• Ultra-high-throughput sequencing of microbial diversity and ecology (Medical School)
• Improving large scale iPSC line banking and distribution infrastructure to support intercollegiate multi-user programs (Medical School)
• Consolidation of the Center for Metabolomics and Proteomics (Medical School)
• Full spectrum cell sorters for the UMN Flow Cytometry Resource (Medical School)
• LHI confocal imaging system (Medical School)
• Modernizing data infrastructure of the Minnesota Center for Twin and Family Research (College of Liberal Arts)

Read more about all of the projects that received funding on the University of Minnesota’s Research and Innovation Office website.