Aarhus University Seal

iNANO Cryo-EM Facility

iNANO Cryo-EM
The Facility

The iNANO Cryo-Electron Microscopy Facility was inaugurated on December 1st 2016. Aarhus University purchased a direct electron detector (Gatan K2 Summit) for the high-end Titan Krios 300 kV electron microscope in 2016. This detector allows high resolution data of protein molecules, other macromolecules, macromolecular complexes or cells to be collected.

The Facility offers local AU users, users from other DK research institutions, international academic users and industrial users access to state of the art cryo-EM equipment and specialist assistance in a range of areas including single particle analysis and tomography.

An EMlab with the equipment necessary for screening and optimizing samples for negative stain and cryo-EM single particle analysis and other biological EM work is part of the Facility. This includes a Vitrobot (FEI Mark IV), carbon coater (Leica), glow discharger (EasiGlow), critical point dryer (Leica), ultramicrotome (Leica) and plasma cleaner (Fischione). Furthermore, samples for cryo-electron tomography can be prepared using focused ion beam milling under cryogenic conditions.

High resolution single particle data can be collected automatically on the Titan Krios using EPU and high resolution tomography data can be collected automatically using SerialEM. The K2 Summit PC is connected with a dedicated optical cable to our local petabyte data storage and high performance computing cluster (Electron Microscopy Computing Cluster - EMCC) allowing ultrafast data transfer and processing. Data is streamed using the Scipion pipeline which gives the user real time information on data quality and allows the first steps of data processing to be performed parallel to data collection.

When screening and optimizing samples on the 120 kV Tecnai Spirit transmission microscope, single particle data can be collected automatically with Leginon. The data are stored in a database for on the fly processing using the Appion pipeline.

The Facility includes scanning electron microscopes for cryo-sample preparation (Versa 3D FIB-SEM) and imaging (Nova NanoSEM).

Users can get info about access and training by contacting EM Engineer Ramon Liebrechts (rlie@inano.au.dk) or Cryo-EM Facility Manager Thomas Boesen (thb@mbg.au.dk)

First sub-4Å map from the iNANO cryo-EM facility. 3.6Å map of E. coli beta-galactosidase (2017).

The Microscopes
Titan Krios
Titan Krios 300 kV TEM
Autoloader
Objective lens spherical aberration corrector
Gatan 967 Special Energy filter with full spectroscopy (EELS)
K2 Summit electron counting direct detection device (post-GIF)
Orius CMOS camera (post-GIF)
UltraScan-4000 CCD (pre-GIF)
Volta Phase Plate (installation primo 2018)
EPU automated data collection
SerialEM automated data collection
Scipion data processing pipeline
Tecnai Spirit
Tecnai Spirit 120 kV TEM
TWIN lens
Cryo-box
TemCam-F416 (4kx4k) TVIPS CMOS bottom mounted camera
Veleta (2kx2k) CCD side mounted camera
Leginon/Appion automated data collection pipeline
Versa 3D
Versa 3D Focused Ion Beam SEM
Nova NanoSEM
Nova NanoSEM
The Team
Trolle Linderoth - iNANO Director

Trolle Linderoth

iNANO Director

Poul Nissen - DANDRITE Directorr

Poul Nissen

EMBION Director

Andreas Boeggild - Senior Applications Specialist

Andreas Boeggild

Senior Applications Specialist

Thomas Boesen - Cryoem facility manager

Thomas Boesen

Cryo-EM Facility Manager

Jesper Lykkegaard Karlsen - Scientific Computing

Jesper Lykkegaard Karlsen

Scientific Computing

Ramon Liebrechts - Electron microscopy engineer

Ramon Liebrechts

Electron Microscopy Engineer

Pia Bomholt Jensen - EMlab Manager

Pia Bomholt Jensen

EMlab Manager

Taner Drace - Applications Specialist

Taner Drace

Applications Specialist