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CLEM: Combining the Strengths of Light and Electron Microscopy
In recent years light microscopy studies have been dominated by live cell imaging while electron microscopy has been used for high-resolution studies. Latterly, there has been increasing interest in…Read article
Advanced Correlative Light/Electron Microscopy: Current Methods and New Developments Using Tokuyasu Cryosections
Microscopy is an essential tool for analysis of cellular structures and function. With the advent of new fluorescent probes and super-resolution light microscopy techniques, the study of dynamic…Read article
Focussed Ion Beam Milling and Scanning Electron Microscopy of Brain Tissue
This protocol describes how biological samples, like brain tissue, can be imaged in three dimensions using the focussed ion beam/scanning electron microscope (FIB/SEM). The samples are fixed with…Read article
Microwave Assisted Rapid Diagnosis of Plant Virus Diseases by Transmission Electron Microscopy
Investigations of ultrastructural changes induced by viruses are often necessary to clearly identify viral diseases in plants. With conventional sample preparation for transmission electron microscopy…Read article
Video Tutorial: How to Optimize Sample Preparation for GSD Microscopy
This video tutorial presents a reliable way to produce samples for super-resolution GSD imaging with a special focus on the mounting step. Stable and flat mounting of the coverslip increases the…Read article
Comparison of the RNA Quality of Native Tissue Samples with Tissue Samples after UV Laser Microdissection
Due to its instability, RNA is generally more difficult to work with than DNA. RNA does not have the stability of the DNA double helix. To obtain the best results when dealing with RNA it is essential…Read article
Brief Introduction to Critical Point Drying
One of the uses of the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) is in the study of surface morphology in biological applications which requires the preservation of the surface details of a specimen. Samples…Read article
Atomic Force Microscopy Study of a Stretched Impact Copolymer
Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is a powerful tool in the suite of nanoscale characterization techniques that provides a variety of information including topography, mechanical properties, and…Read article
Dry Ultrathin Sectioning Combined With High Pressure Freezing
We have used cultured UMR106-01 osteoblastic cells to investigate the process of bone mineralization. UMR106-01 cells as well as primary calvarial bone cells assembly spherical extracellular…Read article
University of Wollongong Electron Microscopy Centre
The University of Wollongong has a diverse range of materials research programs that includes metallurgy for mining, manufacturing, steel making and transport; polymers for solar cells, energy storage…Read article
Perusing Alternatives for Automated Staining of TEM Thin Sections
Contrast in transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is mainly produced by electron scattering at the specimen: Structures that strongly scatter electrons are referred to as electron dense and appear as…Read article
Immersion Freezing of Suspended Particles and Cells for Cryo-Electron Microscopy
Immersion freezing of thin aqueous specimens is an essential preparation technique for cryo-transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM), aiming to preserve fragile biological structures such as…Read article
Safe High Pressure Freezing of Infectious Microorganisms
Especially in core EM-facilities one is confronted with material (microorganisms and cells) which are infectious. It is a must to follow the safety rules according to the National regulations. However…Read article
Brief Introduction to Glass Knifemaking for Electron and Light Microscope Applications
Glass knives are used in an ultramicrotome to cut ultrathin slices of samples for electron and light microscope applications. For resin and for cryo sections (Tokuyasu samples) the knife edge must be…Read article
Brief Introduction to Contrasting for EM Sample Preparation
Since the contrast in the electron microscope depends primarily on the differences in the electron density of the organic molecules in the cell, the efficiency of a stain is determined by the atomic…Read article
Rapid Immunohistochemical Diagnosis of Tobacco Mosaic Virus Disease by Microwave-assisted Plant Sample Preparation
Immunoelectron microscopy is a powerful method to diagnose viral diseases and to study the distribution of the viral agent within plant cells and tissues. Nevertheless, current protocols for the…Read article
Video: How to Achieve Fast Precise Cutting Lines in Laser Microdissection
This video explains the laser beam deflection principle of Leica Microsystems‘ laser microdissection systems (Leica LMD). The laser, the beam expander, motorized attenuator, motorized iris diaphragm…Read article
The Force of the Dark Side – Embedding Media for GSDIM Super-Resolution Localization Microscopy
Super-resolution microscopy such as Stimulated Emission Depletion (STED) and single-molecule based techniques rely on the same principle for breaking the diffraction limit: the unwanted fluorescence…Read article
Brief Introduction to Freeze Substitution
Freeze-substitution is a process of dehydration, performed at temperatures low enough to avoid the formation of ice crystals and to circumvent the damaging effects observed after ambient-temperature…Read article
Protein Trafficking in Cereal Seeds
Seeds accumulate proteins and starch which will be broken down and mobilized upon germination. Among seeds, cereals constitute an example of a highly specialized storage tissue that constitutes up to…Read article
Freeze Substitution of Trypanosoma brucei
Chemical fixation of biological specimens for ultrastructural investigation is a relatively slow and selective process, and therefore a common source of artifacts. Freezing, on the other hand, is an…Read article
Sample Preparation for GSDIM Localization Microscopy – Protocols and Tips
The widefield super-resolution technique GSDIM (Ground State Depletion followed by individual molecule return) is a localization microscopy technique that is capable of resolving details as small as…Read article
Imaging Pheromone Sensing in a Mouse Vomeronasal Acute Tissue Slice Preparation
In mice, the ability to detect pheromones is principally mediated by the vomeronasal organ (VNO). Here, an acute tissue slice preparation of VNO for performing calcium imaging is described. This…Read article
Capturing Cellular Dynamics with Millisecond Temporal Resolution
The combination of two powerful techniques: optogenetics and high-pressure freezing now makes it possible to visualize a dynamic cellular activity with temporal resolution of 5 milliseconds. By…Read article
Triple Ion Beam Cutting of Diamond/Al Composites for Interface Characterization
The microstructure of new materials with heterogenic components is extremely difficult to study. As mechanical polishing often not leads to smooth surfaces, a novel ion beam cutting technique has…Read article
Analysis of Oil Shale as an Alternative Source of Energy
For some years now, the search for alternative sources of raw materials has concentrated on oil shale deposits. As the exploitation of these raw materials is still extremely complex and expensive,…Read article
Partner Lab for EM Sample Preparation in Paris
At the Institut de Minéralogie, de Physique des Matériaux et de Cosmochimie (IMPMC) of the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris an new lab for EM Sample Preparation welcomes researchers of…Read article
Glycerol Spraying/Platinum Low Angle Rotary Shadowing of DNA with the Leica EM ACE600 e-beam
Glycerol spraying/low angle rotary shadowing (Aebi and Baschong, 2006) is a preparation technique used in biology to visualize structures yielding insufficent contrast with other techniques, due to…Read article
Brief Introduction to Specimen Trimming
Before ultrathin sectioning a sample with an ultramicrotome it has to be pre-prepared. For this pre-preparation, special attention must be paid to the sample size (size of the section), location of…Read article
How to Clean a Coater
Coating of samples is required in the field of electron microscopy to enable or improve the imaging of samples. Compared to the traditional coater design, all parts of a Leica EM ACE Coater can be…Read article
Video Tutorials: Filling and Assembling of Different Carriers for High-Pressure Freezing
High pressure freezing (HPF) is a cryo-fixation method primarily for biological samples, but also for a variety of non-biological materials. It is a technique that yields optimal preservation in many…Read article
Immersion Freezing for Cryo-Transmission Electron Microscopy: Fundamentals
The high vacuum required in a transmission electron microscope (TEM) greatly impairs the ability to study specimens naturally occurring in an aqueous phase: exposing "wet" specimens to a pressure…Read article
Immersion Freezing for Cryo-Transmission Electron Microscopy: Applications
A well established usage case for cryo-TEM is three-dimensional reconstruction of isolated macromolecules, virus particles, or filaments. On one hand, these approaches are based on averaging of…Read article
New Insights into Cilia and Flagella by Cryo-EM
Cilia and flagella were the first organelles to be discovered and have been studied for centuries. However, their essential role in humans and how ciliary defects cause diseases are still not well…Read article
Customized Patterned Substrates for Highly Versatile Correlative Light-Scanning Electron Microscopy
Correlative light electron microscopy (CLEM) combines the advantages of light and electron microscopy, thus making it possible to follow dynamic events in living cells at nanometre resolution. Various…Read article
Five Advantages of Inverted Over Upright Microscopes in Industrial Applications
With inverted microscopes, you look at samples from below since their optics are placed under the sample, with upright microscopes you look at samples from above. Traditionally, inverted microscopes…Read article
Correlative Light and Electron Microscopy – Get Your Free CLEM e-Book for Download
The urge to go deeper into the microscopic world has led researchers to combine the versatility of the light microscopy (LM) with the resolution power of the electron microscope (EM) to produce…Read article
Preparation of Small Disk-shaped Samples for Capacitance and Pyroelectric Current Measurements
Capacitance and pyroelectric current measurements are best suited to determine important dielectric properties of materials, e.g. the relative dielectric constant, εr, and the remnant electric…Read article
Correlative In-Resin Super-Resolution and Electron Microscopy Using Standard Fluorescent Proteins
We introduce a method for correlative in-resin super-resolution fluorescence and electron microscopy (EM) of biological structures in mammalian culture cells. Cryo-fixed resin embedded samples offer…Read article
High Quality Sample Preparation for EBSD Analysis by Broad Ion Beam Milling
Electron Backscatter Diffraction technique (EBSD) is known as a "surface" technique because electron diffraction is generated within a few tens of nanometers of the sample surface. Therefore, the…Read article
Intravenous Microinjections of Zebrafish Larvae to Study Acute Kidney Injury
We describe a technique of microinjecting the aminoglycoside, gentamicin, into 2 days post-fetilization (dpf) zebrafish larvae to induce acute kidney injury (AKI). We also describe a method for whole…Read article
Transmission Electron Microscopy Sample Preparation Protocols for the Ultrastructural Study of Cysts of Free-living Protozoa
Cysts of free-living protozoa have an impact on the ecology and epidemiology of bacteria because they may act as a transmission vector or shelter the bacteria against hash environmental conditions.…Read article
Critical-point Drying for the Preparation of Biological Samples for MicroCT Analysis
X-ray micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) is a routinely applied non-invasive technique for the investigation of the internal anatomy and morphology of organisms. As a result of a micro-CT scan a…Read article
Workflows & Protocols: How to Use a Leica Laser Microdissection System and Qiagen Kits for Successful RNA Analysis
Laser Microdissection (LMD) allows isolating individual cells or chromosomes and is a well established technique for sample preparation prior downstream analysis of the nucleic acid content via PCR or…Read article
A Good Place for Materials Scientists and Mineralogists to prepare their EM Samples
In June 2014, the Institut de Minéralogie, de Physique des Matériaux et de Cosmochimie (IMPMC) of the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris became a Leica reference lab for EM Sample Preparation…Read article
Electron Microscopy Sample Preparation: “The Future is Cold, Dynamic and Hybrid”
In 2014, the renowned Electron Microscopy for Materials Science (EMAT) research lab at the University Antwerp, Belgium, and Leica Microsystems started a fruitful collaboration to establish a Leica…Read article
Workflows & Protocols: How to Isolate Individual Chromosomes with Laser Microdissection
During the first Leica Workshop in Brazil, at the Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura/USP (CENA), the participants learned how to prepare samples for laser microdissection (LMD) using a cryotome.…Read article
Workflows & Protocols: Connecting Microscopy and Molecular Biology in Neuroscience
The main topic during this course was how to apply laser microdissection in neuroscience. Leica specialists demonstrated why laser microdissection is a suitable techniques for brain investigation as…Read article
TEM Sample Preparation Made Easy - Prepare TEM Specimen by Broad Beam Argon Ion Milling
Quantitative and analytical analysis at high spatial resolution places stringent demands on the quality of the produced TEM specimens. Pristine and high-quality samples are indispensible for atomic…Read article
Triple-beam Ar-Ion-Milling with a Rotary Stage to Decorate Grain Boundaries and Substructures in Rock Salt
Decoration of grain boundaries in polycrystalline rocks has a long tradition in Structural Geology as in a monomineralic rock the recrystallized grain size is a good indicator for the paleostress…Read articleHow to do a Proper Cell Culture Quick Check
In order to successfully work with mammalian cell lines, they must be grown under controlled conditions and require their own specific growth medium. In addition, to guarantee consistency their growth…Read article
Improvement of Metallic Thin Films for HR-SEM by Using DC Magnetron Sputter Coater
Preparation techniques, like several kinds of coating methods play an important role for high resolution scanning electron microscopy (HR-SEM). Nonconductive sample like biological and synthetic…Read article
Workflows & Protocols: Laser Microdissection for Pathology and Cancer Research
Tumor development results from mutations in our DNA. For their deeper analysis, cancer researchers have to dissect the relevant tissue areas. Here we report the reason why laser microdissection is a…Read article
Cross Sectioning of Basalt Fibres
Application Note for Leica EM TIC 3X - Material Research. Purpose: The fibres are embedded in a soft matrix. That makes it difficult to prepare a cross section. Goal: Cross section of the basalt…Read article
Human Blood Cells Protocol
Application Note for Leica EM CPD300 - Life Science Research. Species: Human (Homo sapiens) Critical point drying of human blood with subsequent platinum / palladium coating and SEM analysis.Read article
Workflows & Protocols: Plant Laser Microdissection
During Leica workshops for LMD users in Brazil, hosted by the Federal University of Paraná/UFPR (UFPR) at the Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura/USP (CENA), the power of laser microdissection…Read article
Water Flea Protocol
Application Note for Leica EM CPD300 - Critical point drying of water flea with subsequent gold coating and SEM-Analysis to detect finde surface structures.Read article
Cross Sectioning of Rubber (Tire)
Application Note for Leica EM TIC 3X - Ion beam slope cutting is a method that can achieve cross sections of soft materials or material combinations consisting of hard and soft components.Read articleCryo-SEM Imaging of Latex Paint
Application Note for Leica EM VCT100, Leica EM ACE600 - A thin layer of latex paint was spread on a clean, scored, silicon chip. The sample was immediately plunge frozen in liquid ethane and…Read article
Cross Sectioning of Oil Shale Rock
Application Note for Leica TIC 3X - High quality sample preparation of large area to investigate the sample in the SEM. For the mechanical preparation step diamond lapping foils of 9μm subsequently…Read article
Electron Microscopy of High Pressure Frozen and Freeze Substituted Arabidopsis Thaliana Root Tips Cells
Application Note for Leica EM AFS2 - Arabidopsis thaliana roots (mutant PIN1pro:PIN1-GFP;bex5-1) were excised, immersed in 20% (w/v) BSA and frozen immediately in a high-pressure freezer. Freeze…Read article
Symmetric Synapse - Clathrin Coated Endocytosis Pit in the Postsynaptic Dendrite
Application Note for Leica EM ICE - WT hippocampal neurons were plated at a density of 80,000 cells/cm2 on 6 mm sapphire disks for 14 days. Sample were frozen using a high-pressure freezer (Leica EM…Read article
Translation Microscopy (TRAM) for Super-Resolution Imaging
Super-resolution microscopy is transforming our understanding of biology but accessibility is limited by its technical complexity, high costs and the requirement for bespoke sample preparation. We…Read article
Cell Envelope Structure of a Gram-negative Thermotolerant y-Proteobacterium Acidithiobacillus sp., Strain HV2/2 and its Interaction with Pyrite
Application Note for Leica EM AFS2 - Cells of the the moderately thermophilic Acidithiobacillus sp.strain HV2/2, were centrifuged at 20,0009xg and then cryo-immobilized by high-pressure freezing on…Read article
Immuno - Electron Microscopy of High Pressure Frozen and Freeze Substituted Mouse Heart
Application Note for Leica EM AFS2 - Mouse heart tissue from wild-type (WT) and αT -catenin KO (KO) mice was excised, immersed in 20% (w/v) BSA and frozen immediately in a high-pressure freezer Leica…Read article
Cross Sectioning of CuSn Connector of a Solar Cell
Application Note for Leica EM TIC 3X - Ion beam slope cutting is a method that can achieve flat cross sections of soft materials or material combinations consisting of hard and soft components. The…Read article
Arabidopsis thaliana(L.) Accession Col
Application Note for Leica EM AMW - Plants were grown in growth chambers under defined conditions. After stratification for 4 days at 4°C seeds were grown in pots with soil with 9/15 hours day/night…Read article
Cross Sectioning of Alumina
Application Note for Leica EM TIC 3X - Alumina is very difficult to handle and almost impossible to prepare with conventional methods. Ion beam slope cutting is a method that can achieve cross…Read article
Black Mould Protocol
Application Note for Leica EM CPD300 - Critical point drying of Black mould (Aspergilus niger) with subsequent platinum / palladium coating and SEM analysis to detect conidiospores. Sample was…Read article
Wrinkled Giant Hyssop Leaf Protocol
Application Note for Leica EM CPD300 - Critical point drying of wrinkled giant hyssop leaf with subsequent gold coating and SEM analysis.Read article
Cryo-Electron Microscopy of Vitreous Sections (CEMOVIS) of Yeast
Application Note for Leica EM HPM100 - The sections are of yeast frozen with a Leica HPM100 high pressure freezer in the copper tube system, the cell paste was mixed with a pH 6.5 MES/dextran buffer…Read article
Ceramics - Sample Preparation for TEM
Application Note for Leica EM RES102 - Ceramic samples are mostly very brittle, and are therefore very difficult to thin mechanically to a low starting thickness for ion beam milling. The ion beam…Read article
Epoxy Resin Embedding of Animal and Human Tissues for Pathological Diagnosis and Research
Application Note for Leica EM AMW - The tissues were fixed in the modified Karnovsky fixative generally by immersion overnight (at minimum 4h at room temperature). Then pieces of approx. 1mm3 were cut…Read article
Cultured Rat Hippocampal Neurons
Application Note for Leica EM ICE - Rat Hippocampal neurons, cultured on 50 μm thick Aclar (Aclar embedding film, EMS) for 19 days, were frozen in the 100 μm deep side of lecithin coated (detailed…Read article
Micro-Computed Tomography (micro-CT) of Book Scorpion Musculature
Application Note for Leica EM CPD300 - Critical point drying of book scorpion with subsequent X-ray micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) to detect anatomical features with special regard to the…Read article
Cleaning of Smeared Sample Surfaces - Sample Preparation for SEM
Application Note for Leica EM RES102 - Mechanical polishing of soft materials or hard / soft material combinations is tricky. The mechanical polishing process leads very often to smearing of the soft…Read article
Ion Beam Polishing of Sample Surfaces - Sample Preparation for SEM
Application Note for Leica EM RES102 - Ion milling can be used to reduce the roughness of sample surfaces. Small angles less than 6° with respect to the sample surface are necessary. The high voltage…Read article
Freeze-Fracture Replication of Pyramidal Cells
Application Note for Leica EM HPM100 - Frozen samples (90 μm thick slices frozen by HPM100) were inserted into a double replica table and then fractured into two pieces at –130°C (after insertion of…Read article
Cross Section of an Aluminium Sample for Electron Backscattered Diffraction (EBSD)
Application Note for Leica EM TIC020, Leica EM TIC 3X - Electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) is for example used to examine the crystallographic orientation of material. The sample preparation…Read article
Structural Study of C. elegans
Application Note for Leica EM ICE, Leica EM AFS2 - Wildtype L4 stage C. elegans (N2 strain) were placed in the 100 μm deep side of Lecithin-coated (see detailed protocol*) type A 3 mm Cu/Au carriers…Read article
Work Efficiently in Developmental Biology with Stereo and Confocal Microscopy: C. elegans
For scientists, technicians, and teachers working with the worm C. elegans in the research lab or classroom, this report is intended to give useful information to help improve their daly work. The aim…Read article
Cross Sectioning of a Superconductive Wire
Application Note for Leica EM TIC 3X - Purpose: The shape of the wire is difficult for ion beam slope cutting. Goal: Cross sectional preparation to see the structure of the wire.Read article
Measuring the 3D STED-PSF with a new Type of Fluorescent Beads
A new type of fluorescent bead is presented by GATTAquant. These beads, called GATTA-Beads, are characterized by a small diameter (23 nm), high intensity and size uniformity. In combination with…Read article
Ways to Reveal More from your Samples: Ultra-Thin Carbon Films
Application Note for Leica EM ACE600 - Much of the battle involved in obtaining good transmission electron microscopy data is in the specimen preparation itself. Even though some nanomaterials are…Read article
Ultra-thin Carbon Support Films for Improved STEM-EELS Analysis of Nanoparticles
Application Note for Leica EM ACE600 - Recent developments in aberration corrected transmission electron microscopes as well as further improvements in monochromaters and spectrometers have pushed the…Read article
Thin Metal Foils with Coatings - Sample Preparation for SEM
Application Note for Leica EM RES102 - Thin foils are mostly unstable because of their thickness of a few microns. This makes it difficult to do slope cutting without any protection of the sample. A…Read article
Micro-Computed Tomography (micro-CT) of Insect Brain Protocol
Application Note for Leica EM CPD300 - Critical point drying of the blow fly with subsequent X-ray micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) to detect neuroanatomical features.Read article
Clawed Frog Nuclear Envelope Protocol
Application Note for Leica EM CPD300 - Critical point drying of nuclear pores from clawed frog oocytes with subsequent chromium coating and SEM analysis. Silicon chips containing the samples were…Read article
Cross Sectioning of Painted Concrete
Application Note for Leica EM TIC 3X - Ion beam slope cutting is a method that can achieve flat cuts of material combinations consisting of hard and soft materials. Here, cross sectioning of painted…Read article
Bacteria Protocol - Critical Point Drying of E. coli for SEM
Application Note for Leica EM CPD300 - Critical point drying of E. coli with subsequent platinum / palladium coating and SEM analysis. Sample was inserted into a filter disc (Pore size: 16 - 40 μm)…Read article
Cross Sectioning of Ni/Cu on Steel for EBSD
Application Note for Leica EM TIC 3X - Electron Backscattered Diffraction (EBSD) is a surface technique creating a diffraction pattern (Kikuchi-bands). It can be used for crystal orientation mapping,…Read article
Surface Modification of ZnAg Sample - Sample Preparation for SEM
Application Note for Leica EM RES102 - By means of cleaning, polishing and contrast enhancement a soft ZnAg sample should be prepared to obtain information concerning the grain structure and…Read article
Wall Cress Pod Protocol - Critical Point Drying of Arabidopsis thaliana for SEM
Application Note for Leica EM CPD300 - Critical point drying of wall cress (Arabidopsis thaliana) pod with subsequent gold coating and SEM analysis.Read article
Practical Guide for Excellent GSDIM Super-Resolution Images
Do you know that most protists and bacteria lack in one feature that each of our body cell has? Our cells are touch and communicate with one another. They send and receive a variety of signals that…Read article
Contrast Enhancement of Polished Cross Sections of Semiconductor Structures - Sample Preparation for SEM
Application Note for Leica EM RES102 - The surfaces of polished cross sections often show fine scratches and residues of the removed material or of the abrasive material. The artefacts are strongly…Read article
Visualization of Membrane Dynamics with Millisecond Temporal Resolution
Application Note for Leica EM ICE, Leica EM AFS2 - Electrical stimulation of neurons combined with high-pressure freezing allows physiological activation of synaptic activity and precise control over…Read article
Nematode E. dianae - Critical Point Drying Protocol for SEM
Application Note for Leica EM CPD300 - Critical point drying of nematode Eubostrichus dianae to detect the ectosymbiotic bacteria layer with subsequent gold coating ans SEM analysis.Read article
Metal Films and Sheets - Sample Preparation for TEM
Application Note for Leica EM RES102 - Most metal films already have a thickness that requires no further mechanical pre-preparation. Frequently, however, they are also domed, which can lead to…Read article
Paper Samples - Sample Preparation for SEM
Application Note for Leica EM RES102 - A coated paper sample has been prepared with ion beam slope cutting in order to test the procedure with regard to its applicability. With the use of ion beam…Read article
Tobacco Leaf - Critical Point Drying Protocol for SEM
Application Note for Leica EM CPD300 - Critical point drying of tobacco leafs with subsequent platinum coating and SEM analysis.Read article
"Shallow Trench Isolation" Structures - Sample Preparation for TEM
Application Note for Leica EM RES102 - The cross-sectional preparation of structured semiconductor materials requires a very thorough mechanical pre-preparation. In doing this, it must be ensured that…Read article
Commercially Available Hand Creams - Sample Preparation for Cryo-SEM
Application Note for Leica EM HPM100 - Hand creams having different water contents were applied into the 100 μm cavities of two 3 mm type A sample carriers which were then closed cream sides inwards.…Read article
Each Atom Counts: Protect Your Samples Prior to FIB Processing
Application Note for Leica EM ACE600 - Focused ion beam (FIB) technology has become an indispensable tool for site-specific TEM sample preparation. It allows to extract electron transparent specimens…Read article
High-Resolution Carbon Coating: How much Carbon is too much?
Application Note for Leica EM ACE600 - Carbon support films are routinely used for high resolution TEM. Thickness is one of the main criteria to assess its usefulness for a particular experiment.…Read article
Carbon Coating for Polymeric Materials
Application Note fo Leica EM ACE600 - A solid understanding of polymer property-structure relationships is critical to improve and shorten development routes to new products. A direct way to determine…Read article![High resolution XTEM lattice [110] image of conventional prepared InP](https://webcdn.leica-microsystems.com/fileadmin/_processed_/b/b/csm_Compound_3_525d192774.jpg "In-Containing Compound Semiconductors - Sample Preparation for TEM")
In-Containing Compound Semiconductors - Sample Preparation for TEM
Application Note for Leica EM RES102 - Previous studies showed that surface accumulation of In occurs when InP was milled in a conventional way with Ar ions. The consequence is In islands on the…Read article
Multilayer Systems with Widely Different Sputter Rates - Sample Preparation for TEM
Application Note for Leica EM RES102 - The multi-layer system to be prepared in cross-section consists of a Si substrate, a TiN layer with a thickness of a few nm and a 500 nm W layer. All these…Read article
High-Pressure Freezing and Freeze Substitution of Hep-2 Cells Infected with Chlamydia pneumoniae
Application Note for Leica EM HPM100 - Hep-2 cells infected with Chlamydia pneumoniae were cultured on carbon-coated 6 mm Sapphire discs. Cells were high-pressure frozen in an EM HPM100 using the 6 mm…Read article
Cross Sectioning of a Multilayer System - Preparation of a Perfect Sample Surface for EBSD
Application Note for Leica EM TIC 3X - Electron Backscattered Diffraction (EBSD) is a surface technique creating a diffraction pattern (Kikuchi-bands). It can be used for crystal orientation mapping,…Read article
Cross Section of Solar Cells
Application Note for Leica EM TIC020, Leica EM TIC 3X - Cross section of a complete solar cell.Read article
Removal of Surface Layers - Sample Preparation for SEM and TEM
Application Note for Leica EM RES102 - Sometimes it is necessary to remove surface layers to gain access to the real surface structure. That can be a native oxide, or layers coming from the…Read article
Maple (Acer saccharum) Leaves - High Pressure Freezing and Freeze Substitution for TEM
Application Note for Leica EM HPM100 - Leaves were immersed in hexadecene and placed under a gentle (0.3 bar) vacuum for 10 minutes to evacuate the internal air spaces. The leaves were then trimmed to…Read article
Porous Ceramics - Sample Preparation for SEM
Application Note for Leica EM RES102 - Ceramic membrane filters with pore sizes down to a few nanometres must be investigated in cross-section with regard to the structure of the pores. The smallest…Read article
Cross Sectioning of Copper for Electron Backscattered Diffraction (EBSD)
Application Note for Leica EM TIC 3X - Electron Backscattered Diffraction (EBSD) is a surface technique creating diffraction patterns (Kikuchi-bands). It can be used for crystal orientation mapping,…Read article
Picea abies (L.) KARST - Sample Preparation for TEM
Application Note for Leica EM AMW - Plants (5-years old) were grown in pots filled with soil and kept in greenhouse conditions. Five weeks before harvesting the plants were transferred into growth…Read article
Cross Sectioning of Cadmiumsulphide (CdS) for Cathodoluminescence
Cathodoluminescence can be used to achieve spectra and high resolution images of impurity and structural defects in semicondoctors, minerals and insulating materials. This application note explains…Read article
Giardia lamblia - Sample Preparation for Cryo-SEM
Application Note for Leica EM ACE900 - A 100 mesh copper grid (12 um thickness) was dipped into a concentrated Giardia suspension and sandwiched between two flat 3 mm aluminum specimen carriers with…Read article
Drosophila larvae - Sample Preparation for Cryo-SEM
Application Note for Leica EM ACE900 - Drosophila larvae were sandwiched between two 3 mm aluminum slit carriers with the 100 μm cavities facing each other and high-pressure frozen with a Leica EM…Read article
Variety of RNAs in Peripheral Blood Cells, Plasma, and Plasma Fractions
Human peripheral blood contains RNA in cells and in extracellular membrane vesicles, microvesicles and exosomes, as well as in cell-free ribonucleoproteins. Circulating mRNAs and noncoding RNAs, being…Read articleContrast Enhancement of Polycrystalline Metals - Sample Preparation for SEM
Application Note - Ion milling is a perfect alternative for chemical etching, especially for polycrystalline metals, such as copper. Ion milling can be used to increase the contrast of the grain…Read article
Micro-CT of Insect Larva Protocol
Species: red blood worm (midge larva) Critical point drying of midge larvae with subsequent X-ray micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) to reconstruct the inner anatomy.Read article
DLS Sample Preparation: Using U-Shaped Glass Capillaries for Sample Mounting
The TCS SP8 DLS microscope system from Leica Microsystems is an innovative concept which integrates the Light Sheet Microscopy technology into the SP8 confocal platform. Due to its unique optical…Read article
Macroscale to Nanoscale Pore Analysis of Shale and Carbonate Rocks
Physical porosity in rocks, like shale and carbonate, has a large effect on the their storage capacity. The pore geometries also affect their permeability. Imaging the visible pore space provides…Read article
High Resolution Array Tomography with Automated Serial Sectioning
The optimization of high resolution, 3-dimensional (3D), sub-cellular structure analysis with array tomography using an automated serial sectioning solution, achieving a high section density on the…Read article
Using a Rotation Device for DLS Sample Mounting
The TCS SP8 DLS from Leica Microsystems is an innovative concept to integrate the Light Sheet Microscopy technology into the confocal microscope. Due to its unique optical architecture samples can be…Read article
Using Mounting Frames for DLS Sample Preparation
Sample handling is an important topic in the context of Light Sheet Microscopy. The TCS SP8 DLS integrates Light Sheet technology into an inverted confocal platform and can hence make use of general…Read article
The Guide to STED Sample Preparation
This guide is intended to help users optimize sample preparation for stimulated emission depletion (STED) nanoscopy, specifically when using the TCS SP8 STED 3X nanoscope from Leica Microsystems. It…Read article
Improved tree-ring visualization using autofluorescence
Autofluorescence can be a very practical tool for the visualization of growth rings in wood, especially when these structures are hard to distinguish, like in tropical trees. Tree rings are largely…Read article
Improve Cryo Electron Tomography Workflow
Leica Microsystems and Thermo Fisher Scientific have collaborated to create a fully integrated cryo-tomography workflow that responds to these research needs: Reveal cellular mechanisms at…Read article
Introduction to Ultramicrotomy
When studying samples, to visualize their fine structure with nanometer scale resolution, most often electron microscopy is used. There are 2 types: scanning electron microscopy (SEM) which images the…Read article
Studying the Microstructure of Natural Polymers in Fine Detail
The potential of cryogenic broad ion beam milling used in combination with scanning electron microscopy (cryo-BIB-SEM) for imaging and analyzing the microstructure of cryogenically stabilized soft…Read article
3-Dimensional Imaging of Macroscopic Defects in Aluminum Alloys
The investigation of macroscale defects in aluminum (Al) alloys with a rapid 3-dimensional (3D) imaging approach is described in this report. Aluminum (Al) alloys play an important role in the…Read article
Rate the Quality of Your Steel: Free Webinar and Report
This webinar and report describe optimal microscopy solutions for rating steel quality in terms of non-metallic inclusions and reviews the various international and regional standards concerning…Read article
Introduction to Ion Beam Etching with the EM TIC 3X
In this article you can learn how to optimize the preparation quality of your samples by using the ion beam etching method with the EM TIC 3X ion beam milling machine. A short introduction of the…Read article
Analyzing non-metallic inclusions in steel
Oftentimes we find ourselves caught up in tedious analyses by reticle and comparison chart, time-consuming double-evaluation according to several standards or subjective inspection results with a bias…Read article
Top Issues Related to Standards for Rating Non-Metallic Inclusions in Steel
Supplying components and products made of steel to users worldwide can require that a single batch be compliant with multiple steel quality standards. This user demand creates significant challenges…Read article
Workflows and Instrumentation for Cryo-electron Microscopy
Cryo-electron microscopy is an increasingly popular modality to study the structures of macromolecular complexes and has enabled numerous new insights in cell biology. In recent years, cryo-electron…Read article
High-pressure freezing: Revealing functional mechanisms of synaptic transmission
Learn more about applying optogenetic stimulation in the EM ICE and how this technology has the potential to reveal structural and functional mechanisms of synaptic transmission. Get a detailed…Read article
Advancing Cell Biology with Cryo-Correlative Microscopy
Correlative light and electron microscopy (CLEM) advances biological discoveries by merging different microscopes and imaging modalities to study systems in 4D. Combining fluorescence microscopy with…Read article
Targeting Active Recycling Nuclear Pore Complexes using Cryo Confocal Microscopy
In this article, how cryo light microscopy and, in particular cryo confocal microscopy, is used to improve the reliability of cryo EM workflows is described. The quality of the EM grids and samples is…Read article
Fast, high-quality vitrification with the EM ICE High Pressure Freezer
The EM ICE High Pressure Freezer was developed with a unique freezing principle and uses only a single pressurization and cooling liquid: liquified nitrogen (LN2). This design enables three major…Read article