cryo-EM

cryoEM structures

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Equipment:

Our group operates the JEOL CRYO ARM™ 200, a cutting-edge cryo-electron microscope (cryo-EM) system designed for high-resolution imaging of biological samples and complexes.

This cryo-EM features a fully automated workflow, enabling efficient sample preparation and data collection. Its unique cold field emission (Cold-FEG) electron source delivers a stable and coherent electron beam, enabling high-resolution imaging at both low and high magnifications. The in-column energy filter enables energy-filtered imaging for enhanced contrast and resolution. This feature is particularly beneficial when studying small and fragile biological specimens that are sensitive to electron beam damage.

Our cryo-EM is equipped with two detectors: 1. the Gatan K2 detector, that utilizes the direct electron detection (DED), which enables the direct conversion of electron signals into digital data without the need for intermediate steps. This direct detection allows for the capture of low-energy electrons, leading to enhanced contrast and improved resolution in cryo-EM images, 2. the Gatan Rio16 detector equipped with a 16-megapixel complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) sensor, which enables the capture of high-resolution images with excellent signal-to-noise ratio.

The total area of the facility is approximatly 58 m2. The area is divided into 3 rooms:

microscope room, 18 m2:

control room, 16.5 m2:

utility room, 24.2 m2:

Performance:

In Feb 2021 a performance test of the setup was conducted by JEOL Germany (Dr. E. Katzmann) and Dr. Fumiaki Makino (Osaka University) with a E. coli  lacZ sample.

The microscope has continuously captured series of images over a period of 72 hours from a cryogenic sample maintained at a temperature below or equal to 105 K. The resulting reconstructed map achieved a resolution surpassing 2.5 Å by far, thereby revealing intricate atomic details of the sample.