High Angle Liquid Cell TEM Tomography for In Situ Observation and 3D Reconstruction in Liquid

摘要: Liquid-Cell (LC) electron microscopy (EM) is a rapidly emerging field in EM [1]. While 2-D LC observations are very common for inorganic materials and biological systems, studies of molecular moieties in 3-D in the liquid environment are scarce [2, 3] mainly due to very limited available tilt range of the current LC holders (eg usually not more than±35 º). To perform electron tomography, LCs need to reach high angular tilting ranges, preferably more than 140º (±70 º). This high angular range without excessive missing wedge artefacts is important to obtain a reliable 3D model. Since such LC do not exist currently, we have developed a prototype “tomographic” LC (coined Tomochip) by modifying a commercial monolithic LC (K-Kit from Bio MA-TEK), whose original total inclination angular range is about 60º (±30º), to extend its available angular range to about 120º (±60 º)[4].We have designed an elaborate precise …