{"id":12544,"date":"2022-04-12T07:00:21","date_gmt":"2022-04-12T12:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/materials\/?p=12544"},"modified":"2022-04-12T08:55:17","modified_gmt":"2022-04-12T13:55:17","slug":"automated-microscopy-materials-science-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thermofisher.com\/blog\/materials\/automated-microscopy-materials-science-research\/","title":{"rendered":"How Automated Microscopy Accelerates Materials Science Research"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is automated microscopy?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Today, instrument automation is transforming materials science, freeing up scientists to spend more time on their analysis and less time operating their equipment. By automating everything from instrument alignments to image tuning to providing experiment workflows, researchers can gather more data in less time, avoid repetitive tasks and maximize instrument uptime.<\/p>\n

Automated microscopy drives research excellence<\/strong><\/h2>\n

One of the biggest benefits of automated imaging is an increase in productivity<\/em>. With the ability to automatically operate their instruments 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, researchers can analyze more samples, faster. This leads to larger volumes of data and results in experimental datasets with higher statistical precision. It also helps labs optimize their resources and obtain the most usage from their instruments.<\/p>\n

Another benefit of automated microscopy is broader accessibility<\/em>. Automation can simplify complicated, multiple-step experiments, helping new users come up to speed more quickly. Even with the automation, new operators can follow each step of an experimental procedure so important educational and training opportunities still exist. Automation expands scientific research to a broader number of users while exposing researchers to advanced tasks they may not know how to complete without automation. When training multiple users, automation and the use of workflows ensures all operators are trained to perform an experiment in the same way. This leads to a more consistent experimental approach and, in turn, delivers replicable results.<\/p>\n

A third major benefit of automated imaging is increased data confidence<\/em>. Achieving experimental consistency can be a huge challenge, especially with complex experimental workflows, or when multiple researchers use the same instrument. By implementing automation within microscopy workflows, experiments are less likely to introduce human errors\u2014and, ultimately, researchers can have a higher degree of confidence in the final results.<\/p>\n

\"Nanoparticles

Automation can greatly accelerate nanoparticle characterization. Here, a grid covered with mixed nanoparticles (Si, Ni) was chemically analyzed using a Thermo Scientific\u2122 Talos\u2122 F200X G2 TEM with a Thermo Scientific\u2122 Super-X\u2122 G2 Detector and the Automated Nanoparticle Workflow (APW). An area with a total width of 1.01mm was analyzed by acquiring 53 \u00d7 16 (848) tiles with a total of 138M+ pixels. Overall, 3,937 nickel and 4,546 silicon nanoparticles were analyzed. Total acquisition time was 18 hours and was performed fully unattended using Thermo Scientific\u2122 Maps\u2122 and Velox\u2122 Software. Processing was done on the fly with Thermo Scientific\u2122 Avizo2D\u2122 Software during tile acquisition.<\/p><\/div>\n

A highly flexible approach to automated microscopy<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It is generally accepted that automated imaging can produce more accurate data and more consistent results that produces better scientific research. Instrument automation is becoming an increasingly important part of today\u2019s research as scientists want to produce high-quality results with the precious instrument time that\u2019s made available to them.<\/p>\n

While many research labs are embracing the benefits of automation, there are also perceived drawbacks. Some educators worry that automation is a \u201cblack box\u201d that potentially compromises understanding and prevents novice users from developing good instrument handling skills. They\u2019re also concerned that more automation may lead to less user freedom over selecting instrument parameters.<\/p>\n

While these concerns are understandable, microscopy automation doesn\u2019t need to be a mystery. With the right automation tools, today\u2019s materials science labs can maintain full control over their experiments and provide good training and education, while driving high-quality scientific results.<\/p>\n

Here are three things you may not know about how we approach automated microscopy:<\/p>\n