New advanced chemical imaging research infrastructure to Finland - Nanoscience Center establish a new spectroscopic imaging instrument

Advanced chemical imaging research infrastructure received 1.6 million euros in funding from the Academy of Finland. The research infrastructure partners are the University of Helsinki, the Ģֱ and the LUT University. The new research infrastructure strengthens the collaboration between leading vibrational spectroscopy, imaging and application research groups in Finland.
At the Ģֱ Laserlab-NSC at the Nanoscience Center will extend the spatial resolution of spectroscopic and imaging equipment down to 10 nm. Credit: The Ģֱ
Published
13.12.2019

The Academy of Finland is prepared to fund research infrastructures under the FIRI spring 2019 call with a total of some 21 million euros. Among the ten infrastructures that received funding thus far, there were two new ones. One of these new openings is Quantitative chemically-specific imaging infrastructure for material and life sciences (qCSI), which includes the University of Helsinki, the Ģֱ and LUT University.

It will be a world-class infrastructure for advanced vibrational spectroscopic imaging. The qCSI consortium will establish two new open-access vibrational spectroscopic imaging instruments: fast multiplex coherent Raman and near-field infrared, and integrate them with an advanced spectral data processing and analysis platform.
The imaging infrastructure will be used for various types of applications in the material and life sciences, involving pharmaceuticals, nanomaterials, foods, cells and tissues. The qCSI infrastructure will open up completely new avenues of research for advanced chemical imaging in Finland.

“This funding allows us to develop an internationally unique infrastructure for Finnish and international researchers interested in high-resolution molecular-level imaging of complex systems. A real strength is the synergistic expertise of the partners in spectroscopy, imaging, data analysis and application disciplines, such as pharmacy, medicine and materials science”, explains Head of qCSI infrastructure Prof. Clare Strachan from University of Helsinki.

The Academy of Finland provides funding for the acquisition and establishment of nationally significant research infrastructures that promote high-quality scientific research and for strengthening and expanding existing services.

“With this funding, we are able to extend the spatial resolution of spectroscopic and imaging equipment at Laserlab-NSC down to 10 nm. This nanoscale resolution is significant because the characteristic scale for functional biological molecules and electronic devices is on this scale”, tells Prof. Mika Pettersson from the Ģֱ.

“The funding enables us to develop an open-access spectral data analysis and image generation platform capable of handling large datasets user-friendly and by remote access. This is essential to optimal research outputs with the imaging equipment”, continues Prof. Erik Vartiainen from the LUT University.

Link to Academy of Finland's press release:

Nanoscience Center:
/science/en/nanoscience-center

More information:
Mika Pettersson, mika.j.pettersson@jyu.fi, puh. +358 50 310 9969
Clare Strachan, clare.strachan@helsinki.fi, puh. +358 50 318 5341
Erik Vartiainen, Erik.Vartiainen@lut.fi, puh. +358 505421205

Communications officer Tanja Heikkinen, tanja.s.heikkinen@jyu.fi, tel. 050 581 8351
/science/en
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