Tools for the Future

For most students, the technology used in a bioengineering laboratory seems to be from the future. For students in the Macro Atomic Force Microscopy Creative Inquiry led by Dr. Vladimir Reukov, research assistant professor of bioengineering, the understanding and development of complex technologies in a learning environment is an important part of their education at Clemson University. Atomic Force Microscopy is an imaging modality which allows the contours and surface topography of an object to be visualized. Bioengineers often use an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) to obtain images and collect other data from different samples at very high resolution, down to nanometers. It is a way to examine the surface of new materials, nanoparticles, biological structures and other objects. The AFM maps out the topography of a sample by scanning it with a very sharp probe attached to a flexible cantilever, and it uses a laser to track deflection of the cantilever. “The regular AFM is quite complex and hard to visualize, and we have to teach the students how to understand the basic principles, so the idea for the model AFM was born,” explained Reukov, “One day I hope to see this in a classroom.” The model promises to be a crucial learning tool to help future students in the classroom.

The goal of the Creative Inquiry project is to create a macroscopic, large-scale, model of the microscope to make AFM more accessible to students and to teach students how AFM really works. The group began with a Lego model and then designed and built a stage model they will continue working with during the upcoming school year. The students working on the project are focusing on combining the computer (which runs the moving parts) with the software (which renders the surface). Students wrote the program (using MATLAB) to run the machine, and in spring 2016, they refined the software to control the X-Y stage, and to get the surface rendering to update in real time.

The Creative Inquiry is important for students as well as professional bioengineers. Having a working model will allow all bioengineering students to better understand a conceptually difficult to grasp machine that is used in their field and how AFM really works. “Dr. Reukov wants this CI to create a Macro AFM for educational purposes. It is much easier to visualize how this type of microscopy works when there is a large, fully functioning model to observe. Through the CI, we have learned how to approach real world problems. This wasn’t a textbook problem that required us to plug some numbers into an equation. We had to be creative and put together all of our knowledge, and even study completely new topics, to bring life to this project,” explained Nolan Bagnal and Jacob Tilles, senior bioengineering majors. Other team members, Thomas Warner Roberts and Bryan Canas, recently joined the project and made significant contributions to software development and image recognition.

The AFM model is also a good outreach tool for encouraging high school students to pursue bioengineering careers. The team used the model for Clemson’s bioengineering summer camp, Building a Better You. This summer camp allows prospective students to see what bioengineering students do while they are at Clemson University.