AMES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State University is set to receive a $3.5 million gift to transform biomolecular research and make the school into a leader in advanced electron microscopy technology. The Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust of Muscatine announced the grant earlier this week.

The grant will enable the purchase of a state-of-the-art cryo-transmission electron microscope equipped with a direct electron detector. Cryo-EM technology generates images of delicate biomolecules by bombarding frozen cellular, viral, nucleic acid or protein samples with electrons. The 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to three scientists for developing the technique.

The Roy J. Carver Charitable Trust is one of the largest private philanthropic foundations in Iowa, with assets of more than $325 million and annual grant distributions of nearly $16 million.