Equipment

The facilitiy is equipped with state-of-the art instrumentation, like embedding automats, ultra-microtomes, cryostats, an automatic freeze substitution unit, a modular high vacuum coating system, critical point dryers and a sputter coater. Electron microscopy is performed with 2 TEMs, a table top SEM and a high resolution cold field emission SEM. 

Equipment for sample preparation

• Tissue processing automats (Leica EM-TP, Leica EM-AMW)
• Automated freeze substitution unit (Leica AFS2) for progressive lowering of temperature (PLT) embedding and freeze substitution
• Knifemaker (Leica EM-KMR)
• 2 ultramicrotomes (Leica UC6), 1 equipped with a FC6 cryochamber for cryo-ultramicrotomy
• immunogold labeling automat (Leica IGL, e.g. for serial section analysis, ssTEM)
• Modular high vacuum coating device (Baltec, Med020, for carbon coating or glow discharging of EM-grids)
• Epifluorescence dissection microscope (Leica MZ6F, for target preparation)
• Critical point dryer (Baltec CPD 030, Leica CPD 300) for drying samples for SEM
• Sputter coater (Baltec SCD 050) for coating dry samples with conductive materials

Microscopes

• 120 kV Transmission Electron Microscope (Jeol JEM 1400 Plus) with a Jeol Ruby camera and the Picture Overlay Program for Correlative Light Electron Microscopy (CLEM)
• Cold Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (Jeol JSM-7500F)
• Epifluorescence widefield microscope (Keyence BZ 8000)