Electron Microscopy

The Electron Microscopy laboratory, based in the Department of Life Sciences at Siena University, has a strong history in the high resolution microscopic analysis of cell motility complexes, invertebrate ultrastructure and many other biological subjects. Rapid freezing and cryofracturing protocols have been employed for several years as a valid complement to standard procedures for both Transmission and Scanning Electron Microscopy studies. Our researches, using principally QF-DE preparations and image analysis of metal replicas, allowed significant advances in the knowledge of axoneme structure, comparative spermatology and cell functional morphology, as documented in the literature. In a major technical upgrading cofinanced by Novartis Vaccines and UNISI, we have recently set up a laboratory for cryo-electron microscopy. This includes a Philips CM 200 transmission electron microscope, with field emission gun, wide angle compustage, cryo holder for the observation of unfixed frozen hydrated samples and a TVIPS 2Kx2K cold CCD camera with EM-Menu4: a dedicated software for automatic image collection and electron tomography. The laboratory is also equipped with a Reichert ethane-plunging device for preparation of vitrified biological samples. These new additions, coupled with our already proven abilities in the preparation and analysis of QF-DE metal replicas of axonemes and other material, establishes our laboratory as one of the most modern and productive in Italy, and one competitive with most of the world’s structural biology EM laboratories.