Our Facility

We are located in rooms G70 and G71 of CMM (Centers for Molecular Medicine) Building. The facility hosts a powerful, high-throughput cryogenic transmission electron microscope, along with support instruments and serves researchers who are interested in studying high-resolution 3D structures of proteins, macromolecular machineries, cellular processes, and other radiation-sensitive materials. Its operation is supported by both university and user contributions. The rate structure can be found here.

Our Equipment

FEI Talos Arctica

Our FEI Talos Arctica is a 200 KV cryogenic transmission electron microscope coupled with an autoloader which allows users to load up to 12 specimens at a time. Its Falcon 4i direct electron detector helps to obtain atomic or near-atomic resolution data in single particle Cryo-EM. The specimen stage allows a high tilt series of tomography data collection which makes the microscope highly versatile.

FEI Vitrobot Mark IV

The FEI Vitrobot Mark IV is a semi-automatic specimen freezing apparatus which provides accurate control of environment temperature, humidity, blotting conditions, and freezing velocity. This system makes Cryo-EM specimen preparation highly reliable and reproducible.

Gatan CP3

The Gatan CP3 is a specimen preparation instrument which provides double side and single side blotting as well as control of the environment temperature and humidity. Single side blotting may be advantageous for some specimen preparation such as cells grown on EM grids for tomography study.

EMS 150T ES

The EMS 150T ES is a sputter coater which can be used to coat thin carbon/metal layer(s) with precisely controlled thickness.