CRYO-ELECTRON MICROSCOPY SERVICE

Rules and Services Offered

The cryo-EM Unit, located in the large-instruments-room at the IBV-CSIC (room S14), includes two main equipments, a Leica EM ACE600 and a Leica-EM GP2 Automatic Plunge Freezer, that allow the
preparation of grids of biological material for conventional electron microscopy using negative staining and cryoelectron microscopy (cryo-EM).

The service includes:

1. Shading of grids with carbon for Negative Stain Electron Microscopy (NSEM) or cryoelectron microscopy (cryo-EM). The price includes the grids for NSEM and the intermediate steps of carbon deposition on mica and from this to the grids in the case of cryoEM

2. Preparation of NSEM grids;

3. Preparation of grids for Cryo-EM): Quantifoil R1.2/1.3 o R2/2 on Cu Mesh 300 grids, Quantifoil R1.2/1.3 on Au Mesh 300 grids UltrAuFoil R1.2/1.3, y C-flat R1.2/1.3 grids are currently available

4. To help screening Electron Microscopy grids (NSEM and/or CryoEM): The aid for the screening of grids in external microscopes only includes the cost/hour of specialized IBV personnel, and the user must be responsible for the (possible) fees derived from the use of the microscope in question and in the case of FEI Krios, FEI Talos, FEI Glacios and Jeol CryoArm microscopes, the price derived from the number of Cryo grid boxes, C-Clip Clipping and C-clip ring clipping used must be added, in addition to the shipping of the dewar to the Facility.

The specifications for using the equipments will be posted in a document available via intranet IBV-CSIC.
The equipment may only be used under the direct supervision of the technical manager(s) of the service and in any case it is recommended that all users have received specific training in the use of the
equipment. The equipment will be reserved via IBV-CSIC intranet and the technical managers of the service must be informed of the reservation.
The management of the cryo-EM Service will be carried out through internal billing to the users, in a manner analogous to the rest of the Services in the center and following the internal regulations of
the CSIC regarding Technical Scientific Services.

COSTS:

The costs have been estimated based on the calculation of expenses of the CryoEM Unit during the last 2 years. The Service provides the consumables and instruments required for each service, such as
tweezers, uranyl acetate, collodion, mica, carbon wire, different types of grids, liquid nitrogen and ethane, grid storage boxes, and also guarantees storage of cryoEM grids in cryogenic conditions.

To know the exact costs of each service, consult with those responsible for the CryoEM service by calling 963391760 or writing to crioem@ibv.csic.es