KECK Foundation Supports Development of a Unique STEM:
The W.M. Keck Foundation has approved a compelling proposal, Inorganic Signature of Life (ISL), by Tom O'Halloran, Teresa Woodruff and Vinayak P. Dravid, to understand the role of inorganic signal pathway (esp. Zn) during the earliest time of "life", i.e., the fertilization of female egg! The key hypothesis is the role of Zn in signal pathway, which will require highest sensitivity technique for mapping Zn in Oocytes. Professor Dravid proposed a unique dual EDS detector design, which will be built by Hitachi Corp., on their HD-2300 STEM platform, with two EDS detectors by Thermo Scientific, with unprecedented 0.8 Sr. collection angle, allowing arguably the highest sensitivity EDS in the world!