Equipment

This is one of the most highly configured and most sophisticated cryo-electron microscopes in the world, offering new possibilities for high resolution imaging under low-dose conditions. It’s equipped with two direct electron detectors for low dose imaging, an image corrector for spherical aberration correction, a Gatan Image Filter (GIF) for energy filtered transmission electron microscopy (EFTEM) imaging, and a high-brightness field emission gun (X-FEG). The two direct electron detectors are a pre-GIF FEI Falcon II and a post-GIF Gatan K2 Summit. This microscope can perform single particle data collection and electron tomography under liquid nitrogen cooling.

This Titan Krios is configured for high-throughput data collection as well as reliability/uptime. The detection system consists of a Gatan K2 Summit direct electron detector and a TVIPS F-416 camera. The electron source is a standard FEG. There is no Image Corrector or energy filter. This microscope is optimized to perform single particle data collection and electron crystallography under liquid nitrogen cooling.

Janelia Krios2 sitting in a dedicated room with tight environmental control and minimal disturbance/interferences.

Camera is one of the most important components on a cryoEM which can ultimately determine the quality of data collected. Janelia Krios1 is equipped with two direct electron detectors: a pre-energy filter FEI Falcon II with full movie capability and a post-energy filter Gatan K2 Summit with electron counting capability. In this picture, the Falcon II camera with its companion Gatan Orius CCD (used for set up work) are shown above the energy filter. Only the starting portion of the energy filter can be seen from this angle and it runs all the way to the left back as indicated by arrows.

At the end of the long energy filter tube on Krios1 a Gatan K2 summit direct electron detector is installed.

On Janelia Krios2 a Gatan K2 Summit direct electron detector with a companion Gatan Orius CCD are installed immediately underneath the projection chamber. A TVIPS F-416 camera primarily used for electron diffraction is installed at the very bottom. In this picture the objective lens, the compu-stage and the autoloader are also shown.

This “small” transmission electron microscope is equipped with cryo capability coupled with a side entry Gatan 626 cryo-holder. The electron source is a LaB₆ filament  in contrast to the FEGs on the Krios. This microscope is mainly used to check sample quality for cryo grids made onsite. It can also be operated at room temperature on conventional samples.

There are two computer-controlled plungers, an FEI Vitrobot Mark IV and a Gatan CP3, at the facility for vitrifying small biological samples such as small bacterial cells, viruses, and protein complexes. They can be operated with controlled humidity, temperature, blotting force, and time to increase the reproducibility of suitable cryoEM grids.