235 UNIVERSITY WILL UNVEIL MIMIC RESEARCH FACILITY FEB. 2

Release date: Jan. 26, 2007

Editorial contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-2919
MIMIC contact: Dr. Andrienne Friedli, 615-898-2071



(MURFREESBORO) — The realization of biology professor emeritus Marion Wells’ dream and “determination” of chemistry professor and administrative director Andrienne Friedli has led to the newest technology to arrive at the MTSU campus.
The MTSU Interdisciplinary Microanalysis and Imaging Center grand opening will be held from 2 until 3:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 2, in the Forrest Hall Annex behind the Keathley University Center, Friedli said.
MTSU President Sidney A. McPhee will preside at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, which will be held at 2:30 p.m. in the annex’s west wing.
Faculty, staff and students interested in the research center are welcomed to attend to learn more about the center and celebrate the completion of renovations. Refreshments will be served.
The center’s showpiece equipment includes a state-of-the-art Hitachi-made transmission electron microscope and scanning electron microscope with an X-ray analyzer, Friedli said, adding that both electron microscopes are all-digital and have remote access capability.
“Somebody from Tennessee State University (or another college or university) could study samples from their locations,” College of Basic and Applied Sciences Dean Tom Cheatham said of the remote access capability while giving a brief tour of the facility.
Other equipment includes a Perkin-Elmer Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometer, an ultramicrotome, critical point dryer, knife maker, sputter coater, vacuum evaporator, rototorque rotator (microcentrifuge) and biosafety cabinet.
The nearly $1 million funding for equipment came from the MTSU Office of Research (with credit to former vice provost for research Abdul Rao and interim vice provost Robert Carlton) and National Science Foundation, Friedli said.
So what is MIMIC, the acronym for MTSU’s Interdisciplinary Microanalysis and Imaging Center?
MIMIC is the first university-supported core facility for state-of-the–art research instrumentation, Friedli said, adding that its origins build on Wells’ work “throughout his long and distinguished career as a microbiologist specializing in electron microscopy techniques.”
“Through his efforts in science and fund-raising, a microscopy lab was built and maintained in the biology department over the past 20-plus years,” Friedli added.
In addition to the remote access capability, MIMIC’s “unique features,” said Friedli, include a research and education and training missions (grants allowing Drs, Heather Brown in ETIS/concrete management and Warner Cribb in geosciences), technical staff (Wells, Friedli and technical manager Joyce Miller), internal and external fees for service and an advisory board.
The board includes Brown, Cribb, Wells, Friedli, Miller and Drs. George Benz and George Murphy (biology); and Drs. Ngee-Sing Chong (chemistry), Ron Henderson (physics and astronomy) and Tanya Peres (anthropology).
Eventually, MIMIC will move into MTSU’s new science building, which is in the planning stages now and hopefully will be built and ready by 2011 – MTSU’s 100th anniversary.
For more information, call Friedli at 615-898-2071 or Miller at 615-494-7976.

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