Equipment and services
The Cryo-EM facility currently houses a suite of fully-equipped instruments including the ThermoFisher Titan Krios, Talos Arctica, and Tecnai T-12 platforms, as well as a host of ancillary equipment. Our customers enjoy access to high-performance-compute infrastructure on some of the worlds most powerful computational systems. Our team provides a full range of end-to-end training on instrument operation, data acquisition, and data processing and visualization.
Thermo Fisher - FEI Titan Krios
The FEI Titan Krios is a 300keV ultra-high- performance, automated, three condenser transmission electron microscope is designed specifically for cryo electron microscopy and is capable of delivering 1.8Angstrom atomic resolution structures. The system is equipped with two direct detector systems. The pre-filter Falcon 3 device's counting mode and drift correction produce high signal-to-noise and high-resolution images for tomography and single particle data. Additionally, the ultrahigh framerate and super-resolution modes of the energy filtered Gatan K2 camera system provide fast, high-resolution filtered imaging possibilities. The energy filter providing unmatched contrast. The system is equipped with a Volta phase plate that makes imaging of very small (less than 200kDa) proteins possible.
The Krios is available on a recharge basis to all ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½app staff as well as external users.
Performance Metrics
In order to validate performance, our instruments are routinely tested to insure high-resolution instrument performance. The FEI Titan Krios performance has been validated to 1.9 Angstrom structural resolution using Apoferritin as a well-studied target structure utilizing our Gatan K2 detector and Gatan Energy Filter combination. Customized microscope suites are providing stable environmental conditions to demonstrate 0.65 Angstrom point resolution. Further benchmarking with the Continued benchmarking and performance metrics are ongoing in order to determine optimum imaging and processing conditions.
Thermo Fisher - FEI Talos Arctica
The FEI Talos Arctica is a 200keV high- performance automated transmission electron microscope designed specifically for cryo-electron microscopy. This system is capable of reaching 2.5 Angstrom resolution. The Falcon 3 direct detection device's counting mode and drift correction produce high signal-to-noise and high-resolution images for tomography and single-particle data. The system is equipped with a Volta phase plate that makes imaging of very small (less than 200kDa) proteins possible. The Arctica is primarily used for medium resolution structures that can then be passed to the Krios for very high-resolution imaging and reconstruction.
The Arctica is available on a recharge basis to all ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½app staff as well as external users and industry users.
Performance Metrics
In order to validate performance, our instruments are routinely tested to ensure high-resolution instrument performance. The FEI Talos Arctica’s performance has been validated to 2.5 Angstrom resolution using Aldolase as a well studied target structure.
FEI Tecnai T-12
The FEI Tecnai T-12 G2 Spirit is our workhorse transmission electron microscope. This microscope operates at 120keV with a Lanthanum Hexaboride filament for bright imaging conditions. This system is used primarily for screening cryo and negative stained samples, general imaging, and training. This system utilizes a Teitz 16Mega pixel CCD camera and is suitable for most imaging applications.
This microscope is available on a recharge basis to all ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½app staff and external researchers.
The FEI Mark IV is the fourth generation of sample vitrification robot from FEI. The robot controls environmental conditions, blot times, and plunge freezing to produce a consistent ice thickness for frozen vitrified samples. The Vitrobot is available to all ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½app and external customers free of charge with proper training.
- Extremely consistent vitrified ice for frozen samples
- Enclosed controlled environment with a working temperature of 4-60 C (Peltier controlled) and able to maintain relative humidity at 100% with ultrasonic humidification
- Small volume sample application with user defined software control of multiple sample applications, application time and wait time
- Adjustable blotting parameters include the number of blot actions, blot duration, longitudinal grid positioning, and drain time between blotting and vitrification steps
- Automated shutter control, grid and coolant container positioning
The Wet Lab is available to all Cryo EM Facility customers. The wet lab is provided as a free service to our customers. All the chemicals and equipment necessary to prepare carbon films, glow discharge grids, perform negative stain, plunge freeze grids, platinum shadow, and inspect samples are available for use with required training.
- ThermoFisher-FEI Mark IV Vitrobot
- Denton DV-502B Evaporator
- Diener Zepto 2 Plasma Cleaner
- Chemical fume hood
- Leica dissection microscope
- Supplies and reagents necessary for sample preparation