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Dr Alexander D. Ball

Short bio

Alex Ball is the Head of the Imaging and Analysis Centre at The Natural History Museum, London.

Alex has more than 25 years’ expertise in scanning electron microscopy and non-destructive imaging and analytical techniques. In his time at The Natural History Museum he founded and developed three new laboratories to provide cntralised light microscopy, micro-CT and 3D surface scanning facilities. He has published on techniques as diverse as computer-aided 3D reconstruction of serial-sectioned snail embryos, determining optimum conditions for the micro-analysis of cometry return samples, confocal microscopy applied to palaeontological specimens, photogrammetry using SEM images and micro-CT of soft-bodied invertebrates.

As well as his role in the NHM, Alex is a committee member of the Society of Electron Microscope Technology, Council Member of the Royal Microscopical Society and chair of the RMS Education and Outreach Committee, he is also a council member of the National Heritage Science Forum.

Alex’s research interests include diversity and inclusion in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics education and he is supervising a Zeiss-sponsored PhD student investigating the use of 3D-printed models in science education of visually impaired students.

 

Abstract

Non-Destructive Imaging and Analysis at The Natural History Museum, London

 The Natural History Museum in London houses around 80 million objects, a collection reflecting the systematic efforts of generations of collectors over the Museum’s history. The scale of the collections is not just reflected numerically, but also in the physical variability in both specimen size (from single-celled organisms to whale and dinosaur skeletons) and type of preservation technique (from fossils and minerals to millions of pinned insects, to ultra-cold DNA biobanks to specimens preserved in ethanol and formalin).

These collections are investigated by over 350 staff researchers, approximately 200 post-graduate students and thousands of visiting academics. The Core Research Laboratories include molecular biologists, data managers and conservation scientists as well as dedicated staff in imaging and analysis.

In the Imaging and Analysis Centre, 20 permanent staff operate over 50 instruments to deliver a service focussed on dealing with the challenge of how to record and interpret this huge variety of specimen types from across the natural world, encompassing rocks, minerals, fossils, plants and animals, but also including manuscripts, notebooks, maps, drawings and paintings relating to the specimens or the study of Natural History. These collections include items of great scientific or historical significance.

In common with more traditional Cultural Heritage collections, many of the Museum’s specimens are delicate and unique and the NHM’s research laboratories necessarily offer a very flexible range of advanced imaging and analytical techniques to address this multiplicity of specimen types.

We work closely with our Research and Conservation teams, both in the delivery of training and the support of staff, but also in the development of new techniques or workflows to ensure that we collect the maximum amount of data from each specimen under investigation whilst causing the smallest amount of disruption to the specimen’s integrity.

Our experience has shown that causing as little alteration to the specimen as possible during data collection is vital to ensuring that future research is not compromised. To this end we have expended considerable time and energy in investigating the interactions between the scientific instrumentation and the samples to understand the nature and consequences of these interactions. For example, the effect of micro-CT examination on the recovery of DNA from modern and historical bones and tissue samples has been extensively tested and methods for the measurement of the contamination rates of samples under examination by SEM-EDX were developed for NASA to inform the future examination of extra-terrestrial samples returned by space probes. Similarly, the development of novel confocal microscopy techniques was required for investigations of micrometeorite and cometary particle impacts into space craft.

Destructive techniques are sometimes necessary for sub-sampling. However, increasingly sensitive analytical techniques mean that we may need just a few micro-grams of sample and can employ micro-drills, or make use of laser-ablation inductively-coupled-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) for sample analysis. We increasingly use micro-CT to precisely locate the region of interest in samples thus ensuring our sample is representative and targeted and minimising the loss of information.

Micro-CT plays an increasingly important role in our investigative workflows and is used routinely to assist other UK Museums and Galleries to interpret their own collections. However, computational power required to process micro-CT data, combined with the demands of storing the enormous datasets produced present their own difficulties.

This presentation will consider a range of examples drawn from the Museum’s collections and from some of our collaborators to illustrate the different approaches adopted and the role of new developments in instrumentation. Some of the challenges of running and maintaining large-scale interdisciplinary laboratories will also be explored.

 

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