Electron Microscopy Research Services

Electron Microscopy Research ServicesElectron Microscopy Research Services provide an electron microscopy service to students and researchers throughout the University as well as to companies and individuals both nationally and internationally.

Services Offered

The facilities allow high resolution, high magnification imaging of a wide range of specimens from both biological and material sciences.

Experienced staff can provide support in all areas of both transmission (TEM) and scanning (SEM) electron microscopy. As well as offering sample preparation, there is expert advice available for interpretation of images. Specialists can be called upon for advice in areas such as protein structure, renal ultrastructure, neuroscience and stereology.

Potential customers are welcome to call in to discuss their requirements and see the equipment available. Although a full support service is available, experienced users are also able to use the facility on a self-service basis. Training in all aspects of EM is offered and can be tailored to individual needs – from complete beginners to those requiring a refresher course.

The facility houses a Philips CM100 Transmission EM with Compustage and digital image capture for visualisation of cellular ultrastructure.

“I leveraged the EM Research Services for an urgent need to understand the benefits of one of our products at a microscopic level. The team was fantastic, very welcoming and rapidly understood what the main challenge was. They rapidly accommodated our non-routine request and produced fantastic images that really highlighted the concept behind the product benefit. Each time they delivered with excellence and in a timely manner.”

Dr Leticia Espinosa, Researcher, Analytical GCO, Procter & Gamble.

Specialised techniques:

  • Negative/positive staining
  • Shadowing
  • Freeze substitution
  • Pre-embedding immunogold
  • Pre-embedding enzyme histochemistry
  • Post-embedding immunogold

Typical applications for TEM:

  • Plant and animal tissue and cell culture
  • Isolated proteins
  • Detergent-extracted cytoskeleton and organelles
  • Bacteria and viruses
  • Particulate size and distribution in non-biological samples

The facility also houses a Cambridge Stereoscan 240 Scanning EM with digital image collection. Scanning electron microscopy allows high resolution imaging of surfaces.

Typical applications for SEM:

  • Plant and animal tissue
  • Biofilms
  • Dental research
  • Bacteria
  • MEMS
  • Quality control

Further information: