The Chemistry of Life Processes Institute (CLP) has appointed Dr. Carla Rosenfeld associate director, Quantitative Bioelement Imaging Center (QBIC) at Northwestern University.

In this capacity, Rosenfeld will lead the facility into its next phase of growth and development as a national resource for bio-element imaging and analysis.  Her responsibilities include operation and routine maintenance of facility instruments, training and supervising student users, supervision of technical staff, grant writing and advising faculty on experimental design and data analyses.

Previously, Rosenfeld held the position of visiting research associate in the Molecular Environmental Sciences Group, Biosciences Division, Argonne National Laboratory, where she focused on trace metal biogeochemistry and water quality. Rosenfeld completed her postdoctoral fellowship in environmental chemistry and microbiology at the Smithsonian Institution (Department of Mineral Sciences) and University of Minnesota (Department of Earth Sciences), where she held an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship. She received her Ph.D. research in Soil Science and Biogeochemistry from Penn State University and B.S. degree in Chemistry from McGill University.

Rosenfeld’s expertise includes analysis of metals in numerous environmental and biological matrices and preparing solid samples for analysis and other analytical approaches including electron microscopy, chromatography, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), and X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray fluorescence (XRF).  An experienced manager and grant writer, she has also overseen multiple interdisciplinary environmental science projects, operated and maintained numerous analytical instruments, coordinated field and laboratory endeavors and trained and supervised students.

About QBIC

Located in Silverman Hall on Northwestern University’s Evanston campus, QBIC focuses on the development and application of novel tools, methods, and instrumentation for the analysis and mapping of inorganic elements in biological samples.  Transitional metal atoms are found within all living cells and are conserved during evolutionary processes. Through a suite of high-resolution instruments capable of quantitatively imaging biologically essential elements in individual cells, QBIC’s instrumentation enables physical, life, and material scientists to analyze metal quotas at scales ranging from the subcellular level to entire ecosystems shaping global biogeochemical cycles. This work sheds light on the co-evolution of microbial and eukaryotic life within a broad range of challenging chemical environments.

A shared resource facility serving investigators within the Northwestern scientific community and beyond, QBIC provides researchers with access to state-of-the-art imaging and quantification instrumentation while supporting its use with an expert technical staff that offers a range of services, including instrument training, sample preparation and analysis, experiment design, and grant proposal assistance.  The combination of both extremely high sensitivity elemental analysis and high resolution imaging enables QBIC customers to perform cutting edge experiments with expert staff support. Operating under the direction of Thomas O’Halloran, Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor of Chemistry and founding director of CLP, QBIC is the only facility in the greater Chicago area with multiple inductively coupled plasma (ICP) systems dedicated to the analysis of inorganic elements in biological and materials samples. Additionally, QBIC offers the only laser ablation system dedicated to mapping biological samples in the Chicago area.

by Lisa La Vallee