Electron Cryo-Microscopy Core Facility

Electron Cryo-Microscopy Core Facility

The mission of Electron Cryo-Microscopy (Cryo-EM) Core Facility at UTHealth is to provide researchers access to the state-of-the-art cryo-EM resources and expertise. Over the past decade cryo-EM has emerged as the most applied technique capable of determining structures of a wide variety of challenging biological structures ranging from individual molecules and their assemblies to subcellular organelles. To date, cryo-EM is a proven alternative to X-ray crystallography for 3-D structural analysis at atomic resolution. These remarkable advances open a new door in structural biology attracting a steadily growing community of researchers around the world motivated by the prospect of using cryo-EM to tackle high-resolution structures of molecular targets that are associated with human diseases but have not been amenable to the traditionally employed X-ray crystallography and NMR spectroscopy. UTHealth has created the Cryo-EM Core Facility to meet needs of researchers in the Texas Medical Center at Houston and nationwide who do not have adequate access to the latest cryo-EM instrumentation and expertise.

Instrumentation and Services:

  • Titan Krios G3 (300 KeV X-FEG) electron cryo-microscope equipped with
    • post-column BioQuantum Energy Filter with K2 Summit direct detector
    • Volta Phase Plate
    • 12-position cryo-sample autoloader
    • Automated data collection through EPU, SerialEM
  • Polara F30 (300 keV FEG) electron cryo-microscope equipped with
    • K2 Summit Direct Electron Detection Camera
    • Multiple specimen cryo-holder
    • Automated data collection through SerialEM
  • Ancillary equipment required to prepare optimal cryospecimen
    • FEI Vitrobot (Mark IV)
    • Manual plungers
    • Glow Discharging
    • Carbon Coating

The Cryo-EM Core Facility is able to provide high-resolution imaging for single particle analysis and for electron cryo-tomography (cryo-ET).

We offer diverse service packages for expert to novice users including: optimization of cryo-specimen preparation, high-resolution cryo-EM data acquisition

Information on how to submit projects to the Cryo-EM Core Facility and request an access to the latest technology can be foundhere

Irina Serysheva, Ph.D., Professor & Director of the Core Facility