Ricerc@Sapienza

A deep understanding of matter structure and properties is needed to develop innovative methods and new technology options. Nowadays a constantly increasing number of scientific fields but also the industrial sector use transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques that are essential for the development of a constantly increasing number of scientific fields (nanomaterials, nanotechnologies, energy generation, structural biology, medicine, environmental science, information technologies, earth sciences, quantum mechanics, etc.) and for the industrial sector (semiconductors, chemistry, pharmaceuticals, energy, transport, etc.).
In the most industrialized countries, and also in some of the emerging ones, TEM-based labs are a well-established reality from long time, but not yet in Italy, despite our long scientific tradition in the field of TEM. Looking to the international context, Italian TEMs are scattered across the national territory and underdeveloped due to the presence of dated instruments. At Sapienza the last TEM had bought about 20 years ago, so it is fundamental to provide the most important Italian university with a last generation TEM that fulfils the requirements of users belonging to biomedical and technological departments.
To bring back to the top Sapienza University, we propose the realization of a TEM-based platform for advanced Imaging and Diffraction Analyses (TEMIDA), equipped with sets of accessories at the state-of-the-art, enabling different characterization methodologies, suitable for all the scientific fields, from material science to life science. The TEMIDA platform will be integrated in the ATOM center, recently funded by Region Lazio with 2.495.466 euro (www.atomcenter.org) and will be open to all academic and industrial users, and further will increase Sapienza's capability to accomplish high quality, high impact and innovative research while supporting and developing research links with industry, in Italy and internationally.