Welcome
Established in July 2007 under the Commonwealth Government's National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS), the Australian Microscopy & Microanalysis Research Facility is a joint venture between Australian university-based microscopy and microanalysis centres.
The AMMRF is a national grid of equipment, instrumentation and expertise in microscopy and microanalysis that provides nanostructural characterisation capability and services, including widely used optical, electron, X-ray and ion-beam techniques and world-leading flagship platforms. The latter include pulsed-laser local-electrode atom probe, high-throughput cryo-TEM, high-resolution SEM and spectroscopy, as well as high-precision ion probes.
This collaborative facility, comprising research expertise and research infrastructure, is accessible by all Australian researchers, enabling discovery and innovation in Australian science. Operating nodes in major capital cities, and with links to smaller units in specialist facilities, it provides access to a vast array of instrumentation.
The AMMRF offers a complete, modern suite of instruments accessible to all Australian publicly funded researchers on the basis of merit and a nominal fee schedule. Industry-based researchers can also access the facilities for proprietary research at commercial rates.
News
8 May 2012
Scanning Probe Microscopy module live on MyScope
MyScope continues to grow with the arrival of its new Scanning Probe Microscopy module. It provides an online training environment for users who wish to take advantage of this increasingly powerful technique. People from around the world are now recognising the value of MyScope training for advanced research. To explore this free resource go to ammrf.org.au/myscope
12 April 2012, University of Western Australia (UWA)
Magnetic navigation – putting the cat among the pigeons
Iron-containing cells in the beaks of pigeons were thought to be the magnetic field receptors responsible for the pigeon's famous navigational abilities. However, research published today in Nature shows that this is not the case and the search for the elusive magnetoreceptors must go on.
The international team showed that the cells are macrophages (an immune cell) and not the nerve cells that magnetoreceptors are likely to be. By using sophisticated microanalysis in the AMMRF at UWA authors Dr Jeremy Shaw and Prof. Martin Saunders showed that the iron inside the cells was not in the mineral form that might be expected for a magnetoreceptor. Macrophages all over the body contain iron from the breakdown of old red blood cells. The macrophage cells in the beak are no different.
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6 March 2012, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
Co-operation between AMMRF and EMBL Australia formalised in MoU
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was recently signed by Prof. Simon Ringer, AMMRF Executive Director and CEO and Prof. Nadia Rosenthal, Scientific Head of EMBL Australia. The AMMRF and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) Australia are now formally co-operating to establish programs of research collaboration underpinned by the capabilities of the AMMRF. These programs will bring significant benefits to the communities served by both institutions.
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The AMMRF is funded by
