Sponsored Content: ‘Very Cool’ Science at the RFI
Cryo-electron tomography (CET) allows researchers to study proteins and molecular processes in their native cellular context. Detailed tomograms can reveal biological mechanisms in action and show how cellular components interact, for example during protein production or cellular transport.
CET samples must be preserved at cryogenic temperatures to maintain their ultrastructure. They are then thinned using focused ion beam milling to create very thin slices, called lamellae, that electrons can pass through before imaging in a transmission electron microscope (TEM). Preparing samples this way is challenging, but the Franklin has refined the necessary skills and technology over the past seven years.
In September, after six months of commissioning, the Franklin signed off its newest microscope and brought it online. The first of its kind in the UK, built in collaboration with Thermo Fisher Scientific and funded by Wellcome, the instrument combines chromatic correction, deep cryogenic temperatures and low-vibration operation. Researchers will explore how these capabilities can improve CET, enabling imaging of thicker, lower-contrast samples at higher resolution. Temperatures around 26 Kelvin are expected to help researchers investigate and control imaging damage and artefacts in cryogenic samples.
The Franklin and Thermo Fisher share a common commitment to using tomography to understand disease mechanisms at the molecular level, built on nearly a decade of collaboration. The Franklin research focuses on mechanisms of pathogenesis and, through close links with clinical researchers across the UK, aims to address fundamental questions about disease.
The nearly five-metre-tall microscope, named Hodgkin, dwarfs those beside it. The photos show the Thermo Fisher and the Franklin teams marking its April shipment from Eindhoven after five years of design and construction, and the Franklin team with Hodgkin at September sign-off, ready to support the research it was built to enable.