Imaging of biological surfaces and medical devices with SEM

Do you have a medical device or a biomaterial, implant, or biological surface of any kind that you would like to image with high resolution? At RISE, we have access to scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) that can be used to evaluate the microscopic structure and chemical composition of the surface.

SEM image of fibroblasts cultured on a PEEK surface.

We offer multiple SEM-based services in the area of medical devices (e.g implants, surgical tools, dentistry equipment), where SEM and EDS can be used to evaluate microscale structure and composition of medical device surface as part of quality control or when troubleshooting production or functional failures. Further, SEM can be used to demonstrate functionality or mode of action of the device when imaging interfaces between medical devices and biological entities, such as cells, bacteria or tissues. Some specific examples of SEM applications in the field:

Cleanliness control (detect and identify surface contaminants and particles) when validating production or decontamination process of medical devices
Pattern, pore-size or roughness evaluation of the device surface (stereo-SEM)
Determination of integrity, special distribution, chemical composition and thickness of the functional coatings
Particle size distribution in powders
Localization of bacteria and biofilms on for instance retrieved implants for improving their design
Visualization of biointerfaces between scaffolds/implants and cells/tissues

The assignments are completely tailored to your requests, feel free to contact us with your inquiry!