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Intellectual Property Office

Automated Cryotomographic Stage for X-ray Microscopy IB-1980

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APPLICATIONS OF TECHNOLOGY:

  • X-ray tomography

ADVANTAGES:

  • Resolutions approach those of electron microscopes, without requiring vacuum conditions
  • Rapidly surveys cells ( < 3 minutes for obtaining a data set on one cell)
  • Enables correlated x-ray and visible light imaging of the same sample
  • Maintains the sample at a precise temperature without mechanical disturbance

ABSTRACT:

Carolyn Larabell and Mark Le Gros of Berkeley Lab have developed an automated cryogenic stage for the acquisition of high resolution (<50nm) x-ray tomographic data. Its ability to rapidly survey cells may also be applicable to diagnostic procedures like biopsies. Modified versions enable sophisticated, correlated x-ray and visible light imaging measurements of the same cryogenic sample.

X-ray microscopy using Berkeley Lab’s automated cryotomographic stage offers resolutions approaching those of electron microscopes but can be preformed on a wide variety of samples instead of only thin samples prepared for the vacuum conditions typically used for electron microscopy. Aligning the sample and taking a complete data set on a cell using the Berkeley Lab stage takes less than three minutes, allowing high resolution tomographic reconstructions to be generated in statistically significant numbers. The invention maintains the sample at a constant and precise temperature without mechanical disturbance. The x-ray sample stage can be used on laboratory or synchrotron based x-ray microscopes as well as more widely used rotating anode based projection tomography equipment. For more information on the x-ray cryotomographic stage please see the publications cited below.

STATUS:

  • Issued Patent # 7822174 available at www.uspto.gov. Available for licensing or collaborative research.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Larabell, C.A., Le Gros, M., A., “X-ray Tomography Generates 3-D Reconstructions of the Yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, at 60-nm Resolution,” Molecular Biology of the Cell 2004, 15, 957-962.

Le Gros, M., A., McDermott, G., Larabell, C.A., “X-ray Tomography of Whole Cells,” Current Opinion in Structural Biology 2005, 15, 593-600.

REFERENCE NUMBER: IB-1980

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