All staff services are charged on an hourly rate (latest rates), and not per specimen. Email us to schedule a free consultation to discuss the specifics of your project.
Electron Microscopy Services at the Microscope Facility
- Common TEM Sample Preparation
- Sample fixation, resin embedding
- Ultramicrotome sectioning
- Negative staining
- Specialized TEM Sample Preparation
- Immunological EM sample preparation
- High-pressure freezing/freeze substitution (excellent preservation of membranes, even thicker specimens)
- Transmission Electron Microscopy Imaging
- Cryo-EM Sample Screening
- Training (future self-use)
- Specimen preparation
- Microscope operation
- Software analysis tools (Fiji)
Transmission Electron Microscopes
TEMs are great for imaging thin sections within tissues to reveal subcellular structures such as membranes. The details that TEM can reveal are exquisitely fine, almost molecular in spatial resolution. Immuno-electron microscopy services are available, too. In this technique, primary antibodies are conjugated to colloidal gold particles and used to decorate thin sections; they appear as dark spots in the TEM. In principle, multiple antibodies can be conjugated to different sized gold particles, but the specificity of antibodies and of conjugation are very demanding, requiring many control experiments.
Scanning EM services
SEM is great for looking at the microscopic surfaces of objects, ranging from biomaterial scaffolds, cells, tissues, and bone, revealing protein complexes on the surfaces of cells. In addition, we have developed selective extraction methods so that subcellular structure (cytoskeleton) is revealed using SEM of whole cells after plasma membrane removal.
- Common SEM Sample Preparation
- Sample fixation
- Critical-point drying (CPD)
- Sputter-coating