About the Transmission EM Service

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) provides information on internal structures in thin-sections (70-100nm) from your specimens. Cellular and sub-cellular structures can be viewed in great detail. TEM is also useful for viewing suspensions of microscopic particles, such as bacteria or virus using negative staining techniques. Very small amounts of sample are necessary for this technique.

TEM services provided by the EM Resource include:

• Conventional specimen fixation, dehydration & embedding
• Specimen sectioning
• 1 micron epoxy survey sections
• Ultra thin sectioning (70-100nm) on ultra-microtomes
• Immunoelectron microscopy (See details)
• Cryotechniques
• Negative Staining (see web site)
• Viral & Particle Quantification
• Microwave techniques
• Microscopy using JEOL 1010 or JEOL 1230 transmission electron microscopes

Microscopy and Training

Microscope operation on the transmission electron microscope (JEOL 1010 or JEOL 1230) may be conducted by individuals (either alone or with assistance), or may be provided by EM staff. Sign-up for microscope time or viewing time with resource staff using the online Instrument Scheduler.

Training will be provided by the EM staff on the operation of the microscope. All self users will be required to demonstrate competency on the instrument to be considered qualified to use the instrument alone. For more in depth training and classes in various areas of electron microscopy please see training.

Procedures and forms for work-order

Every sample is different. Please consult with the EM Staff before a project is started. You can save time and money by providing references or reprints relating to EM projects similar to the one being proposed.

The EM staff provides fixative (1/2 Karnovsky's) and will handle the specimen preparation after fixation has taken place. Samples for electron microscopy should not normally be prepared with fixatives used for light microscopy, such as formalin.

Note: specimens which come to the lab after noon on Thursday are held over in fixative or an appropriate buffer until the following Monday for processing. Investigators can expect a turn-around time of two weeks depending on workload and demands in the EM Resource.

• Overview of a conventional specimen protocol for TEM
• Using the JEOL 1010 microscope and Gatan CCD camera
• Using the JEOL 1230 microscope and Gatan CCD camera
• Loading the sample holder into the JEOL 1230 microscope

If you are using a FHCRC project id for billing, please fill out the Internal Work Order Form.

If billing is to be submitted to the University of Washington or other external institution, fill out the External Work Order Form.

Images from Microscopy

Images resulting from microscopy can be saved in your fred account, on the server maintained by the Research Computing Support. If you do not currently have an account on the Research Computing server please fill out the User Account Application.

Instructions on mapping a drive to your fred user account can be found at the Research Computing web site.

Links

Microscopy Society
Pacific NW Society