Aquilos 2 Cryo-FIB Features

Cryo-ET sample preparation with extended run time and enhanced automation

The Thermo Scientific Aquilos 2 Cryo-FIB (Cryo-Focused Ion Beam) allows you to actively gain control over your sample thickness and prepare thin in-situ cryo-lamellas from cellular specimens grown on EM specimen supports. The microscope has an integrated, fully rotatable cryo-stage and adjacent cryo-hardware that protects the frozen-hydrated samples from contamination, ensuring that delicate samples will be kept at vitrified temperatures.

Benefits of the Aquilos 2 Cryo-FIB

Automation and extended run time

Run the system overnight, allowing it to automatically produce multiple lamellas for you with Thermo Scientific AutoTEM Software. Your samples remain at vitreous temperatures, even for overnight runs. Cryo-hardware and a fully rotatable cryo-stage protect the frozen samples from contamination and ensure they stay vitrified for the duration of your experiments.

Cryo-Lift-Out

Target and extract your structure of interest with the Thermo Scientific EasyLift NanoManipulator, our high-precision cryo-lift-out solution. Extract site-specific regions, such as fluorescently labeled proteins, even from high-pressure frozen samples. These lamellas can subsequently be placed inside Autogrids for cryo-TEM and further imaging of protein structures and protein networks.

3D visualization

View the native subcellular structure with ultrastructural detail below the surface using charging contrast and identify features for high-resolution tomography in cryo-TEM with Thermo Scientific Auto Slice and View Software. Aquire 3D images from vitrified samples by sequential milling and then imaging of the cross-section of a defined volume of the sample. 

Aquilos 2 Cryo-FIB features

Technical specifications

Aquilos Cryo-FIB Datasheet

iFLM Correlative System

Aquilos Cryo-FIB Accessories

Cryo-Electron Tomography - Selected Reference Guide

Cryo-FIB thinning of protein microcrystals for MicroED

Selected Publications of cryo-tomography with 200 kV Cryo-TEMs

“So with the workflow that we have now fully established at ISTA, we can really address a multitude of questions going from cell biology to high resolution structural biology all within a native context.”

Professor Florian Schur

Institute of Science and Technology Austria Group Leader

Structural Biology of Cell Migration and viral Infection ISTA

For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.