Cryogenic-Electron Microscopy


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Adding a rare new capability, the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics now houses a leading-edge 300 kV cryo-electron microscope. The award-winning Krios G4 provides unrivaled atomic resolution for single-particle and tomographic cryo-electron microscopy.

The carefully renovated space for the instrument in the Biochemistry and Biophysics Building was built to minimize vibrations and other interferences. A continuous air exchange system allows for temperature control with minimum change in airflow. The room is also humidity controlled to reduce ice contamination on the grids during handling.

In September 2022, technical experts from Thermo-Fisher finished installing the instrument in collaboration with Gaya Yadav, Ph.D., technical director of the cryo-EM resource; Terry Lovingshimer, Operations Manager for Biochemistry and Biophysics; and Junjie Zhang, Ph.D., Associate Professor and faculty director for the resource.

Notable equipment

  • Krios G4 Cryo-TEM, equipped with autoloader.
  • Gatan K3 direct electron detector Camera with BioContinuum post-column Imaging filter.
  • Thermo Fisher Scientific phase plate.
  • Ceta-D camera for low-dose diffraction data collection.
  • Vitrobot Mark IV for sample vitrification.
  • EasiGlow dual system (TedPella) for glow discharging the grids.
  • GPU-accelerated workstation to process cryo-EM data.

The facility is available to support research within The Texas A&M University System and beyond.