MicroED Stage Controller

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Laboratory Tools

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MicroED Stage Controller

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About the Innovation

MicroED is a recently developed method from the Gonen lab, which allows collecting high-resolution electron diffraction data from tiny protein microcrystals using an electron cryo-microscope (cryo-EM).

For MicroED, the standard transmission electron microscopy (TEM) equipment is used with one modification: a constant rotation-controlling device, the MicroED Stage Controller.

The normal operating control on TEM equipment uses pressure-sensitive resistors to provide manual control. An adapter brings those control signals out to an external enclosure. The operator can operate the system normally by feeding the pressure-sensitive resistor signals back into the increment/decrement circuits or with standard potentiometers switched into the circuit instead of the pressure-sensitive controls. There are separate controls for increment and decrement rates that mimic a constant pressure on the built-in control.

Application:

For use specifically in a MicroED experiment using a cryo-EM microscope.

Opportunity:

Designs are available for free use for Non-Profit Research at the Flintbox link to the right.

Commercial Licenses are also available.

Publication:

Shi et al., The collection of MicroED data for macromolecular crystallography Nature Protocols 11, 895–904 (2016)

For inquiries, please reference:

Janelia 2016-023

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