Cell and Tissue Structure

Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) techniques use electrons to provide images of biological materials frozen in their native states. Materials range from proteins and nucleic acids to very large biological assemblies and complexes, and image resolutions range from nanometer to atomic scales.

• Cryo-EM/ET technique details
• Resources offering this technique:
  • Cryogenic Transmission Electron Microscopy for Structural Biology at EMSL
  • Laboratory for BioMolecular Structure at NSLS-II
  • Stanford-SLAC Cryo-EM Center at SSRL
• Additional enabling capabilities:
  • UCLA-DOE Institute for Genomics and Proteomics (IGP)

Neutron imaging takes advantage of hydrogen/deuterium contrast and the nondestructive, high-penetrating power of neutrons to study structures in a wide range of hierarchical and complex materials of biological relevance. Applications include studying plant-plant and plant-fungal interactions, soil pore structure and voids under environmentally relevant conditions, fluid transport and interactions in porous media such as the rhizosphere, and cavitation and gas embolism in plant-soil-groundwater systems.

• Neutron Imaging technique details
• Resources offering this technique:
  • Center for Structural Molecular Biology at SNS/HFIR

Soft X-ray tomography (SXT) is a non-invasive, three-dimensional imaging technique that can measure volumes, surfaces, interfaces, membranes, and organelle connectivity within intact cells.

• SXT technique details
• Resources offering this technique:
  • National Center for X-Ray Tomography at ALS