View All Electron Microscopy at Instruct
The centre provides access to the last generation equipment for sample vitrification for electon microscopy, the CHAMELEON system.
The Chameleon is the latest generation equipment for sample vitrification for electron microscopy. The Chameleon uses a new, blot-free approach, for fast vitrfication of sample after deposition on grid. By limiting the interaction of the sample with the air-water interface at the surface of the grid, the problems of preferential orientation and denaturation commonly observed with other tradition plunge-freezing deivce (e.g. the Vitrobot) are limited.
The Chameleon is a fully automatized freezing device, limiting manual handling of the grids for improved reproducibility and fiability of the method. The vitrification process can be monitored directly thanks to a high speed camera, providing direct feedback and control on the on-going experiment.
Sample vitrification is a critical step in the cryo-EM workflow, and the bottleneck for many projects. While the classical plunge freezing method is still widely used, it suffers from major limitations such as preferential orientation and protein denaturation which can hinder the success of many projects.
The Chameleon (SPTLabtech) is the latest generation equipment for sample vitrification for electron microscopy. The Chameleon uses a new, blot-free approach, for fast vitrfication of sample after deposition on grid. By limiting the interaction of the sample with the air-water interface at the surface of the grid, the problems of preferential orientation and denaturation commonly observed with other tradition plunge-freezing deivce (e.g. the Vitrobot) are limited.
The Chameleon is a fully automatized freezing device, limiting manual handling of the grids for improved reproducibility and fiability of the method. The vitrification process can be monitored directly thanks to a high speed camera, providing direct feedback and control on the on-going experiment.
