EM Platform

Electron microscopy (EM) is a very powerful technology for the ultrastructural study of macromolecules, cells and tissues. Experiencing major advances in recent years, EM is now able to achieve three-dimensional reconstruction of macromolecular assemblies at near-atomic resolution. The EM platform at Servesto is dedicated to provide service and scientific support to customers from both industry and academia for their research projects requiring high-resolution EM images of the biological samples of interest.

Platform Equipment

Our platform is equipped with highly specialized instruments for scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and the auxiliary equipment required for cryo-EM.

Transmission electron microscope

This TEM combines a 200kV field emission gun (FEG) and in-column energy filter (Omega Filter), and uses a rotation-free image-forming optical system to produce a high-end, optimally configured TEM for energy filtered imagery and chemical analysis of specimens.

Scanning electron microscope

This high-resolution SEM is equipped with a large specimen chamber that accommodates a wide variety of detectors simultaneously, including: multiple EDS, WDS, STEM, BSE, and CL. It is ideal for both imaging and analysis of nanostructures, and determining chemical composition of the sample through X-ray spectroscopy.

Ultramicrotome

This ultramicrotome, featuring an intuitive touchscreen control panel, allows fast and safer alignment of the programmable knife and specimen. With Leica's AutoTrim, you can automatically trim a specimen to a predetermined level in the block face, ideal for high quality specimen preparation and morphometric studies.

High pressure freezer

This high pressure freezing system enables fast sample handling with excellent freezing results, ideal for vitrifying samples up to 200 microns in thickness. Its unique 6 mm-diameter carrier system allows even more sample area to be frozen, compared with other high pressure freezing instrument.

Vitrobot

This system offers fully automated vitrification to provide fast, easy, reproducible sample preparation for high quality cryo-fixation at constant physical and mechanical conditions including temperature, relative humidity, blotting conditions and freezing velocity. The Vitrobot's controlled environmental technology prevents cooling and concentration of artifacts that are inevitable in other freezing protocols.

Vacuum evaporator

This evaporator is a high-vacuum specimen preparation station for both SEM and TEM applications. It is particularly useful for the rapid deposition of carbon, gold and alloys on specimens prior to SEM or TEM imaging.