300 kV Cryo-Transmission Electron Microscope for tomography

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In life sciences, visualization and structure determination of biological objects from molecules to cells is of crucial importance for the analysis of physiologic and pathophysiologic processes in space and time. Supramolecular assemblies or functional modules are of particular interest for biological function and organization as they integrate molecular reactions and interactions to generate biological complexity. A key method for the structural analysis of supramolecular assemblies and macromolecular machines is threedimensional cryo-electron microscopy (3D cryo-EM). Recent revolutionary technological breakthroughs make it possible (i) to determine the structure of purified macromolecular assemblies at near -atomic resolution by single-particle and (ii) to visualize supramolecular assemblies in the native environment of the cell at nanometer to sub-nanometer resolution with cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET). To establish cellular cryo-ET in Berlin, a high-end 300 kV cryo-EM instrument with phase plate, energy filter and direct electron detector is required. This setup is also suited for single-particle cryo-EM of challenging, smaller complexes (< 300 kDa). The instrument shall be integrated into the Charité EM core facility and, together with the other instruments of this combined application, into a Berlin-wide network for advanced cryo-EM. The requested instrumentation shall secure this seminal technology for Berlin, facilitate novel integrated structural biology approaches, and serve as a hub for correlative and multiscale imaging.