Karl H. Hasenstein - US grants

The adaptation of natural communities to changing environments is of growing practical concern. Rising sea levels and increased salinity are impacting coastal ecosystems, interactions between plants and animals, and community structure. We will investigate how Iris hexagona, a native freshwater species, responds to rising salinity, spatial isolation, and flower consumption by deer. Previous results indicate that salinity stress reduces biomass, but increases seed production. In contrast, large-scale flower consumption by deer eliminates seed production and stimulates vegetative growth. This interdisciplinary project combines field experiments, phytochemistry, molecular genetics, and predictive modeling. Field experiments will examine how interactions between salinity and deer influence growth, sexual and clonal reproduction, and belowground dynamics of I. hexagona populations. Phytochemical analyses will investigate physiological responses to salinity stress, including phytohormone, nutrients and minerals, proteins, and volatile floral compounds. Genetic analyses will reveal variation within and between freshwater and saltmarsh I. hexagona populations. Quantitative modeling will integrate our findings to predict plant population growth and the evolution of salinity-tolerance. This project can help advance our understanding of how coastal ecosystems and their natural communities respond to global climate change.

A grant has been awarded to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette to acquire advanced detectors and instrumentation for a scanning proton microprobe (SPM) specially designed for research in the biological sciences. An SPM operates by scanning a highly focused high energy proton beam across the surface of a sample and the various forms of radiation emitted when the protons strike the sample can be used to detect, quantify, and locate the constituent atoms in the sample as well as produce images of the surface and subsurface structure. With the acquisition of this instrumentation researchers will have a vastly improved capability to nondestructively analyze sensitive biological materials at microscale dimensions. Some of the immediate applications where this advanced system will have a significant impact for researchers include evaluation of specific drug uptake mechanisms related to treatment of pediatric brain tumors, monitoring uptake and fluctuations of heavy metals and other pollutants in trees, 3-D tomography of single cells, and analysis of gravity sensing structures in organisms.

The wide range of research applications provided by this advanced SPM analytical system will encourage collaborations among faculty, postdoctoral research associates, and students while offering unequaled educational opportunities in biology, physics, and environmental sciences. Importantly, the significant interdisciplinary teamwork fostered by utilization of this instrumentation will accelerate the dissemination of new scientific knowledge. In addition, the association of the principal investigator with two Louisiana Department of Education Mathematics and Science Partnership Programs offers a rare opportunity for K-12 and community outreach to introduce this leading edge technology to the public.

0960222
Glass
U. of Louisiana at Lafayette

Technical Summary:
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).

There is an ongoing critical need for new-generation techniques to probe materials structure and properties with nanoscale resolutions and to manipulate organic and inorganic nano-materials. High energy (MeV) ions can penetrate well below surfaces of materials with negligible scattering and with precisely controllable ion-atom interactions, thereby offering a unique means by which surface to sub-surface regions can be studied and/or manipulated. The rather cumbersome magnetic focusing systems that have been utilized worldwide as the mainstay of MeV proton microprobe systems have attained notable operational accomplishments, but the inability of these systems to focus heavy ion beams has skewed virtually all work with focused MeV ion beams to those topics for which proton beams can be used - the remainder of the periodic table has remained essentially untouched.
This project will develop a novel electrostatic high energy focused ion beam (HEFIB) nanoprobe system specifically designed for modifying and characterizing materials at nanoscale dimensions using heavy MeV ions. In contrast to the mass dependent magnetic field focusing systems now used worldwide, a mass-independent electrostatic quadrupole focusing will enable major improvements of more than an order of magnitude for several of the operational and physical parameters relative to the presently available magnetic focusing systems. The most significant of these technological improvements to be realized are the substantial reduction of the minimum attainable probe size for MeV heavy ions to sub-100 nm dimensions and the capability to produce sub-100 nm probes of any ion or charged cluster.
Collaborating in the development of the system will be the Louisiana Accelerator Center at The University of Louisiana at Lafayette, The University of North Texas, and National Electrostatics Corporation. Additionally, the establishment of a synergistic collaborative network within this development project which links national laboratories and other universities will enhance and accelerate the dissemination of technology advancement in a number of research areas having national and international relevance. Notably, this unique instrumentation constitutes a revolutionary advancement of technological resources for materials research and the students participating in this project will work side by side with leading U.S. experts in the field from universities, national laboratories, and industry to develop a unique research tool, while concurrently gaining invaluable experience with interdisciplinary fields of science and engineering. The anticipated broad growth and impact of this technology will also simultaneously open new opportunities for a demographically diverse community of students and faculty.
Layman Summary:
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).

Scientists and engineers are continually looking for new ways to probe and study materials on the microscopic scale and high energy ion beams are one of the versatile technological tools available. An ion is the result of removing one or more electrons from an atom to make it electrically charged and therefore able to have its motion influenced with magnetic or electric fields. When high energy ions strike the surfaces of materials they interact with the atoms in the surface to allow the study of surface and bulk properties. Focusing these ion beams to small spots makes it possible to investigate the properties of materials on a microscopic scale. Patterns can also be "written" in a process called nanolithography. However, the magnetic focusing systems presently in use today have a major disadvantage because the focusing is effective only for low mass proton (hydrogen ion) beams.
The Louisiana Accelerator Center of The University of Louisiana at Lafayette will work with The University of North Texas and National Electrostatics Corporation to develop the first electric field-based High Energy Focused Ion Beam (HEFIB) nanoprobe to allow highly effective focusing of high energy heavy ions capable of studying and modifying materials at nanoscale dimensions. This revolutionary step forward will provide unique research tools for scientists engaged in many important areas of materials research including biology, medicine, agriculture, semiconductors, geology, nanofabrication, nanomaterials, archaeology, art, forensic science, catalysis, and radioactive waste management. The students participating in this project will work side by side with leading U.S. experts in the field from universities, national laboratories, and industry to develop a unique research tool while gaining invaluable experience with interdisciplinary fields of science and engineering in research with worldwide relevance. The anticipated wide distribution of this technology will also open new opportunities for students and faculty across a wide range of educational and cultural backgrounds.