Joy C. Andrews, Ph. D. is a Staff Scientist at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL) and full professor of chemistry and biochemistry at California State University East Bay. She has brought many students to SSRL to study metals in biological systems and has published numerous papers on this work, including several on plants that can be used for remediation of metal contamination. She is currently working with an x-ray microscope that can look at individual biological cells, nanoparticles and other materials. Joy was chair of the Synchrotron and Neutron Users Group (2005-2008), a group of scientists who regularly visit Washington DC to inform policy makers about the value and varied applications of basic science. She was also graduate coordinator of the Chemistry and Biochemistry Department at CSUEB (2006-2008), and chair of the SSRL User’s Organization Executive committee (2005-2006).
Three-dimensional tomography can yield important information on the structure of biological systems and materials. On the micron level, for example, it can portray details of the structure of bone and other biological materials, and give insight into responses to various drug treatments and mechanical stresses.
On the nanometer level, with 40 nm resolution, the transmission x-ray microscope is capable of imaging cellular detail and environment. This detailed information, particularly in 3 dimensions can yield valuable insight into various biological, environmental and materials samples.
