300kV Cryo-Electron Microscope

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Göttingen is internationally renowned as a hub for biological imaging. Most recently, this has been recognized by the award of the Cluster of Excellence in Multiscale Bioimaging. However, researchers of the University of Göttingen have no direct access to instrumentation for cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET), which are critical technologies to bridge the scales between structural and cell biology. To fill this gap, we apply here for equipment enabling both high-end single-particle analysis by cryo-EM and correlative cellular cryo-ET. This suite of instruments includes an automated plunge-freezer for sample vitrification, a cryo-light microscope to allow correlative cryo-ET, a cryo-focused ion beam microscope to thin down vitrified samples, and a 300 kV cryo-electron microscope equipped with an energy filter and a direct electron detector for cryo-EM/ET imaging. These microscopes will be used by multiple groups in the University Medical Center, the Faculty of Physics and the Faculty of Biology and Psychology to i) obtain high resolution structures of isolated macromolecules involved e.g. in the ubiquitin-proteasome system or post-transcriptional RNA processing, ii) study the native organization of cells and tissues at molecular resolution, with a particular focus on neuronal function and neurodegeneration-related dysfunction, and iii) analyze vitrified solid-liquid interfaces relevant to sustainable energy technologies.