History of the Center
In 1985 the Academic Senate approved the establishment of the Electron Microscopy Center.
This follows the agreement between some professors of the three scientific faculties of the University (Faculty of Sciences MM.FF.NN., Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Medicine) for the establishment of a service structure for research, for teaching and for the territory addressed to the microscopic characterization which finds ample support in numerous Departments.
The first act is the purchase of an Electronic Scanning Microscope (Philips SEM505 transferred in 2018 to the University's museum complex ) which is installed at the Faculty of Engineering in Roio. In the following years, thanks to an investment policy of the University, the instrumental equipment grows: the SEM and metallographic preparations are completed, the X-ray microanalysis is installed, an Image Analysis system is purchased while the Faculty of Medicine contributes with a TEM installed in its own laboratories.
In 1995, with the purchase of a Confocal Microscope, one of the first in Italy, a section was opened at the Faculty of Sciences in the Coppito campus, with the formation of a bipolar structure of the Center which, while maintaining a single management, developed two souls: the physical-technological one (at the Polo di Roio) and the biomedical one (at the Polo di Coppito).
In the following years, a significant MIUR funding for large equipment allows the purchase of a new SEM at controlled pressure, a 100 kV TEMfor biological applications and a 200 kV TEM with microanalysis for applications in materials science, an Optical Research Microscope with Image Analysis and to follow the whole TEM preparative line for both biology and materials. The Faculty of Engineering and some Departments of the Faculty of Sciences provide ample space for the installation of new equipment.
The name changes from Electron Microscopy Center to Microscopy Center.
The dramatic earthquake of 2009 interrupted the development of the Center which, with difficulty, resumed its activity at the Coppito site alone, while the Roio site, severely damaged by the earthquake, remained unusable for several years. In 2016, with the approval of the current Regulation which provides for a Board of Directors with representatives of all the Departments of the University, the Coppito Campus definitively becomes the single seat of the Center.
In 2017, thanks to an important funding on "Major investment projects" of the University, the Center purchases a new top-of-the-range SEM ( Zeiss GeminiSEM 500 equipped with numerous detectors and accessory functions) which will allow a significant leap in quality, both for research activities within the University and for the service offered to other research bodies and companies in the area.
In 2018, in addition to the installation of the new SEM, an FTIR spectrometer ( Bruker Vertex 70v ) is made available for infrared measurements and, with an important upgrade of the Zeiss AxioImager optical microscope, Correlative Microscopy is activated.
In 2019, the Thermo Fisher FTIR Nicolet IN10 microscope, equipped with ATR and equipped with a database with over 30,000 spectra, and a new camera for the TEM CM100 (CMOS technology) are installed. The confocal microscope with motorized stage and new workstation and the optical fluorescence microscope are also updated.
The Directors
Prof. Pietro Picozzi, 1985-1993
Prof. Sandro Santucci, 1994-1997
Prof. Pasquale Carelli, 1998-2003
Prof. Guido Macchiarelli, 2004-2016
Prof. Luca Lozzi, from 2017
Technical staff
Ms Luisa Corona, 1985-1999
Dr. Maria Giammatteo, since 1985
Dr. Lorenzo Arrizza, since 2001
Dr. Angelo Sarra, since 2020