Imaging mass spectrometry (IMS) is a molecular imaging technology that can measure thousands of biomolecules concurrently without prior tagging, making it particularly suitable for exploratory research. However, the data size and dimensionality often makes thorough extraction of relevant information impractical. To help guide and accelerate IMS data analysis, we recently developed a framework that integrates IMS measurements with anatomical atlases, opening up opportunities for anatomy-driven exploration of IMS data. One example is the automated anatomical interpretation of ion images, where empirically measured ion distributions are automatically decomposed into their underlying anatomical structures. While offering significant potential, IMS-atlas integration has thus far been restricted to the Allen Mouse Brain Atlas (AMBA) and mouse brain samples. Here, we expand the applicability of this framework by extending towards new animal species and a new set of anatomical atlases retrieved from the Scalable Brain Atlas (SBA). Furthermore, as many SBA atlases are based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data, a new registration pipeline was developed that enables direct non-rigid IMS-to-MRI registration. These developments are demonstrated on protein-focused FTICR IMS measurements from coronal brain sections of a Parkinson's disease (PD) rat model. The measurements are integrated with an MRI-based rat brain atlas from the SBA. The new rat-focused IMS-atlas integration is used to perform automated anatomical interpretation and to find differential ions between healthy and diseased tissue. IMS-atlas integration can serve as an important accelerator in IMS data exploration, and with these new developments it can now be applied to a wider variety of animal species and modalities. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: MALDI Imaging, edited by Dr. Corinna Henkel and Prof. Peter Hoffmann.

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The structural evolution of Cu₄₅Zr₄₅Ag₁₀ metallic glass was investigated by in situ transmission electron microscopy heating experiments. The relationship between phase separation and crystallization was elucidated. Nucleation and growth-controlled nanoscale phase separation at early stage were seen to impede nanocrystallization, while a coarser phase separation via aggregation of Ag-rich nanospheres was found to promote the precipitation of Cu-rich nanocrystals. Coupling of composition and dynamics heterogeneities was supposed to play a key role during phase separation preceding crystallization.

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The preparation of thin lamellas by focused ion beam (FIB) for MEMS-based in situ TEM experiments is time consuming. Typically, the lamellas are of ~5μm*10μm and have a thickness less than 100nm. Here we demonstrate a fast lamellas’ preparation method using special fast cutting by FIB of samples prepared by conventional TEM sample preparation by argon ion milling or electrochemical polishing methods. This method has been applied successfully on various materials, such as ductile metallic alloy Ti68Ta27Al5, brittle ceramics K0.5Na0.5NbO3-6%LiNbO3 and semiconductor Si. The thickness of the lamellas depends on the original TEM sample.@en

The electrical properties of segments of tapered InAs nanowires (NWs) were investigated by in situ transmission electron microscopy with simultaneous I-V measurements using good ohmic contacts, thus excluding experimental artefacts as Joule heating caused by high-resistivity contacts. At low voltage the resistivity of InAs NWs with a diameter larger than 120 nm is constant (similar to 10(-2) Omega center dot cm). When the current is strongly increased a breakdown of the NW occurs close to the cathode side, whereby the main changes are an electromigration of In and a sublimation of As. The critical current density for breakdown was close to 10(6) A cm(-2) in most cases. A Joule heating and electromigration mechanism for the breakdown process is proposed.@en