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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 30: Protein Structure and Dynamics
BP 30.8: Vortrag
Donnerstag, 20. März 2025, 17:15–17:30, H46
Novel sample delivery for small nanoparticles and biomolecules for cryo-em — •Kevin Janson1, Armando D. Estillore1, Jiri Wald4,5,6, Madeline Memovich1, Thomas Marlovits4,5,6, Amit K. Samanta1,3, and Jochen Küpper1,2,3 — 1Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Hamburg, Germany — 2Department of Physics, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany — 3Center for Ultrafast Imaging, Universität Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany — 4Centre for Structural Systems Biology, Hamburg, Germany — 5Institute of Structural and Systems Biology, University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany — 6Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Hamburg, Germany
Cryo-electron microscopy (Cryo-EM) is one of the key techniques in the field of structural biology. Recent years brought considerable improvements both on the software and hardware of the microscopes, and resolving high-resolution structures of proteins has become a standard procedure. However, most cryo-EM grids are still prepared by plunge freezing, a technique developed about ~40 years ago. During this process, proteins can be exposed to the air-water interface, possibly causing a preferential orientation or damaging their structure. We present the novel freeze-and-deposit sample delivery approach to deposit particles for cryo-EM using cryogenic shockfreezing technology. The cooling process produces cold high-density beams of nanoparticles. In this process, nanoparticles and macromolecules are aerosolized and rapidly cooled in the gas phase using a cryogenic buffer-gas cell.
Keywords: Cryo-EM; Structural Biology; Electrospray Ionization; Molecular Bombardment