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Microscopy

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 ​Riccardo Levi-Setti

Ph.D., Pavia, Italy, 1949.
Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Physics, Enrico Fermi Institute.
Experimental physics, ion microscopy, secondary ion mass spectrometry, ion-solid interaction.

A Scanning Ion Microprobe (UC-SIM) has been developed that performs Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) imaging microanalysis of materials in the sub-100 nm range of lateral resolution. The mass analysis of the secondary ions is carried out with a high performance magnetic sector chemical mass spectrometer. This by now renowned instrument continues to find unique application in fundamental biological studies. The ability to detect isotopes is of extreme value in cytogenetics, allowing the distribution of labeled nucleosides to be mapped in chromosomes. In collaboration with scientists of the Department of Medicine of our University, investigations have elucidated an important role of divalent cations in the scaffold structure of human metaphase chromosomes. In collaboration with a scientist of the Biology Department of the Texas A & M University, the distribution of divalent cations in dinoflagellate chromosomes has been imaged for the first time, showing that in these primitive eukaryotes, devoid of histones, Ca and Mg provide complete charge neutralization of naked DNA, essential for the multilevel compaction and structural integrity of chromosomes. Altogether, these investigations point to a fundamental role of cations in eukaryotic evolution.

Selected Publications:

• Solute Segregation to Grain Boundaries in MgO-doped Alumina, K.K. Soni, A.M. Thompson, M.P. Harmer, D.B. Williams, J.M. Chabala, and R. Levi-Setti, Appl. Phys. Letters 66, 2793, 1993.
• Advances in High Resolution SIMS Studies of BrdU-Labelled Human Metaphase Chromosomes. R. Levi-Setti, J. M. Chabala, K. Gavrilov, R. Espinosa III, and M.M. Le Beau. Cellular and Molecular Biology 42, 301, 1996.
• The eye: Paleontology, R. Levi-Setti, E.N.K. Clarkson, and G. Horvath. Invited chapter for the series Frontiers of Life by Academic Press, Vol. 1: The Origins of Life, p. 279, 2001.
• Cation-Chromatin Binding as shown by Ion Microscopy is Essential for the Structural Integrity of Chromosomes, R. Strick, P.L. Strissel, K. Gavrilov, and R. Levi-Setti. Journal of Cell Biology 155(6), 899, 2001. (Cover page and Editorial)
• High-Resolution Secondary Ion Mass Spectroscopy Imaging, R. Levi-Setti and K.L. Gavrilov, Invited chapter for the Encyclopedia of Imaging Science and Technology, Ed. J. Hornak (J. Wiley & Sons, N.Y. 2002) Chapter 27, p. 477
• Specific Mg²⁺ binding at Human and Indian Muntjac Chromosomal Giemsa Bands, P.L. Strissel, R. Strick, K.L. Gavrilov, and R. Levi-Setti. Applied Surface Science, 231-232,485, 2004.
• High resolution SIMS imaging of cations in mammalian cell mitosis, and in Drosophila polytene chromosomes, R. Levi-Setti, K.L. Gavrilov, M.E. Neilly, R. Strick, P.L. Strissel, Applied Surface Science, 252,6907, 2006.
• Specific Mg²⁺ binding to AT-rich regions of chromatin in the evolution of Eukaryotes, Applied Surface Science 252, 6770, 2006.
• The eyes of Trilobites: The oldest known visual system. E. Clarkson, R. Levi-Setti, G. Horvath. Arthropod Structure & Development, 35, 247, 2006.
• Divalent cation distribution in dinoflagellate chromosomes imaged by high-resolution ion probe mass spectrometry, R. Levi-Setti, K.L. Gavrilov, and P.J. Rizzo. European J. Cell Biology, 87, 963, 2008.

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Updated 12/2008

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