Cryo-EM Center

Doug Rees – Faculty Director
Songye Chen – Managing Director

Caltech Cryo-EM Center provides advice, training, and access to high-end instrumentation for Caltech researchers and associates. The resource center is involved in projects in cell biology, structural biology, biochemistry, chemistry, and materials science, including both basic research and technology development. The center is located in the Beckman Institute and the Broad Center on the Caltech campus.

Currently the facility is equipped with two transmission electron microscopes for high-resolution imaging of cryogenic samples and a screening electron microscope for routine TEM imaging.

• Titan Krios G3i – 300 keV Field Emission (FEG) Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), equipped with a Gatan K3 Summit Direct Electron Detector, Gatan Energy Filter, and phase plates.
• Talos Arctica – 200 keV FEG TEM, equipped with a Gatan K3 Summit Direct Electron Detector.
• Tecnai T12 – LaB6 120keV TEM equipped with a Gatan Ultrascan 2k X 2k CCD.

Additional equipment for sample preparation include:

• Thermo Fisher Vitrobot vitrification devices for plunge-freezing of aqueous single particles or thin cells.
• BalTec HPM010 high-pressure freezer system for bulk tissue and cell vitrification.
• Leica AFS automated freeze substitution processor.
• Cryo and conventional ultramicrotome (Leica EM UC6/FC6).
• Nikon 90i computer-controlled epi-fluorescence microscope with Metamorph automation and imaging software.
• Ancillary units for carbon coating/rotation shadowing/plasma ionization.

Access to the electron microscopes is available on completion of a tiered qualifying training course. Options for collaboration and instrument usage rates are available on request.