Research Facilities in Cryo ElectronMicroscopy

Electron Microscopes

Samples are routinely screened on a Philips CM100 100 kV electron microscope. This is equipped with a LaB6 gun and Gatan 1Kx1K digital camera. High-resolution images (15 Å to near-atomic) are recorded on a Philips CM200FEG 200 kV field-emission microscope equipped with a Gatan 2Kx2K digital camera and Oxford cold stage.

 

2D crystallisation

Conditions for growing 2D crystals of membrane proteins can be screened on our home built flow dialysis unit.

Specimen Preparation

Specimens are mounted on carbon-coated grids for negative staining or ice embedding. We have a Cressington 208 carbon evaporator/glow discharge unit for grid preparation. A freeze-plunger unit is available for ice embedding.

 

Image Analysis and Computing

Film data can be digitised at high resolution and high precision on our Zeiss Phodis SCAI microdensitometer. At lower resolution we have a Nikon 8000 film scanner. Images of 2D crystals are analysed using MRC software whilst single particles are analysed with SPIDER and IMAGIC. Computing is mainly on UNIX based workstations along with minor applications on WINDOWS or LINUX based PCs.

Funded through grants from BBSRC, Wellcome Trust, Royal Society, and Wolfson Foundation.