Falcon 4i Electron Detector | Life Sciences EM | Thermo Fisher Scientific

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Direct electron detector camera for cryo-EM

The Thermo Scientific Falcon 4i Direct Electron Detector is the ideal solution for your single particle analysis  and  cryo-tomography applications. With its unique combination of high image quality, high throughput, efficient lossless data compression enabled via electron-event representation (EER), and a streamlined solution for data management and quality monitoring, the Falcon 4i Detector offers a productivity and performance boost that meets the demands of today’s scientific and industrial communities.

The Falcon 4i Detector is fully integrated in Thermo Scientific EPU and Tomography Software, allowing for smooth daily instrument operation and data acquisition. The camera’s output is recorded through the Data Management Platform (DMP), which also facilitates the organization, viewing, and sharing of single particle cryo-EM data. You can easily view all the project data and metadata at the microscope or remotely through a secure connection, and can comment and share it with collaborators.

Note: The Falcon 4i Direct Electron Detector is fully compatible with 200 and 300 kV Thermo Scientific Krios, Glacios, and Talos Cryo-Transmission Electron Microscopes (Cryo-TEMs) operating with Windows 10. A Falcon 4i Upgrade Kit is available for the Falcon 4 Direct Electron Detector. The Falcon 4i Upgrade Kit upgrade is also applicable for the Thermo Scientific Selectris and Selectris X Imaging Filters.

Direct electron detector camera for cryo-EM

Thermo Scientific Falcon 4i Direct Electron Detector

Selectris and Selectris X Imaging Filters

Designed for stability and speed, the Thermo Scientific Selectris and Selectris X Imaging Filters are post-column imaging filters that improve the contrast of TEM images, resulting in high-resolution structures up to atomic resolution. Paired with the latest generation Thermo Scientific Falcon 4i Direct Electron Detector, Selectris Filters enable you to obtain high-resolution structures quickly, revealing new biological insights. To further increase the productivity and ease-of-use of your cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) research, these filters are fully integrated into Thermo Scientific EPU Software, Thermo Scientific Tomography Software, and instrument operation software. The Selectris and Selectris X Imaging Filters are available on Thermo Scientific Krios and Glacios Cryo-TEMs.

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The Falcon 4i Direct Electron Detector enables high resolution and throughput.

Apoferritin reconstruction at 1.2 Å resolution created from 3,600 images of 297k particles acquired in 6 hours (EPU data acquisition on the Thermo Scientific Krios G4 Cryo-TEM). Recorded at a dose rate of 5.4 e/p/s.

Amyloid-β 42 filaments isolated from human brain resulting in a 2.5 Å resolution reconstruction. Data collected at dose rate 8 e/p/s, 40 e/A² total dose and 570 movies/hr. Collaboration with MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology. doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.10.19.464936

Key Features

Unsurpassed image quality through higher DQE

Get leading detective quantum efficiency (DQE) across the full spatial frequency range. High DQE at low spatial frequency lets you visualize and align smaller and more flexible proteins, while high DQE at high spatial frequencies lets you achieve results with fewer images or increased resolution.

Large pixels with high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)

The large signal generated by the Falcon 4i Detector’s large pixels, combined with low noise, yields high SNR – electron events can be unambiguously separated from the background noise (left) in comparison to detectors with smaller pixels (right).

Higher throughput for more images per hour

The increased internal frame rate, in combination with improved overhead, yields a significant increase in throughput, depending on the use case.

Lossless data compression with electron-event representation (EER)

Electron-event representation (EER) data enables efficient cryo-EM file storage with full preservation of spatial and temporal resolution. Counted events of all raw frames are available for processing with full temporal resolution (320 fps) and spatial resolution (events are localized to one-sixteenth of a pixel). This super resolution capability maximizes the benefit of the Falcon 4i Detector’s superior DQE at high spatial frequencies.

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Style Sheet for Products Table Specifications

Specifications

Camera architecture	Direct electron detection
Sensor size	4,096 × 4,096 pixels, ~ 5.7 x 5.7 cm²
Pixel size	14 x 14 μm²
TEM Operating voltage	200 kV, 300 kV
Internal frame rate	320 fps
Frame rate to storage	320 fps (EER mode)
Camera Overhead time	0.5 s per acquisition
File formats	EER (native), MRC, TIFF, LZW TIFF
Lifetime (<10% DQE degradation)	5 years in normal use (1.5Ge/px)
Detection Modes	Electron counting mode Survey mode (fast linear mode)
Imaging performance in EER mode (4k x 4k)	300 kV	200 kV
DQE (0)	0.92	0.91
DQE (½ Nq)	0.72	0.62
DQE (1 Nq)	0.50	0.33

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Resources

The Falcon 4i Direct Electron Detector enables high resolution and throughput.

This 1.2 Å resolution reconstruction of apoferritin was created from 3,600 images of 297k particles acquired in 6 hours (EPU data acquisition on the Thermo Scientific Krios G4 Cryo-TEM). Recorded at a dose rate of 5.4 e/p/s.

Cryo-EM structures of Amyloid-β 42 filaments isolated from human brain. Data was collected at a flux of 8 e/p/s; magnification of 0.74 A/pix; 40 e/A² total dose and a throughout of 570 movies/hr resulting into a 2.5 Å reconstruction. (Data collected in collaboration with MRC – Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge) doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.10.19.464936

GABA receptor imaged with the Falcon Direct Electron Detector.

3D SPA reconstruction of the Homopentameric GABAA receptor at 2.1Å resolution. Images are acquired on a Krios Cryo-TEM with the Falcon 4 and EER and processed with Relion 3. Image courtesy of: Radu Aricescu, MRC-LMB Cambridge, UK and Abhay Kotecha, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Eindhoven, Netherlands.

Falcon 4i in 4 minutes

Applications

Infectious Disease Research

Cryo-EM techniques enable multiscale observations of 3D biological structures in their near-native states, informing faster, more efficient development of therapeutics.

Drug Discovery

Learn how to take advantage of rational drug design for many major drug target classes, leading to best-in-class drugs.

Techniques

Single Particle Analysis

Single particle analysis (SPA) is a cryo-electron microscopy technique that enables structural characterization at near-atomic resolutions, unraveling dynamic biological processes and the structure of biomolecular complexes/assemblies.

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Cryo-Tomography

Cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) delivers both structural information about individual proteins as well as their spatial arrangements within the cell. This makes it a truly unique technique and also explains why the method has such an enormous potential for cell biology. Cryo-ET can bridge the gap between light microscopy and near-atomic-resolution techniques like single-particle analysis.

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Integrative Structural Biology

To understand protein function, you need complex and structure information beyond individual proteins. Integrative structural biology combines mass spectrometry and cryo EM for the determination of large dynamic complex structure.

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Single Particle Analysis