Cryo Electron Microscopy Techniques

Single particle cryo-EM can determine structures of challenging proteins and other macromolecules, without the need for crystals, while providing insight into how these proteins function in a way that other methods simply cannot. Single particle analysis is an increasingly popular cryo-EM technique that allows you to investigate biomolecules at near- and atomic resolutions, unraveling dynamic biological processes and the structure of biomolecular complexes/assemblies.

Cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) provides 3D snapshots of proteins at work within their functional cellular environments, allowing users to see and understand how they, and other molecules, work together to carry out major processes in a cell. This is because cryo-ET delivers both structural information about individual proteins as well as their spatial arrangements within the cell, making it a truly unique technique. Cryo-ET has enormous potential for cell biology as it bridges the gap between light microscopy and near-atomic resolution techniques like single-particle analysis.

Microcrystal electron diffraction (MicroED) is a technique that allows fast, high-resolution structural determination of small molecules and proteins. Atomic details can be extracted from individual nanocrystals (<200 nm in size), even in a heterogeneous mixture.