JEOL Ltd. (President Gon-emon Kurihara) announces the release of a new field-emission cryo-electron microscope, the JEM-Z200FSC (CRYO ARM™ 200), to be released in April 2017.

Product development background

Cryo-electron microscopy has been established as a method to enable observation of cells and biological molecules with no fixation and no staining. Owing to the recent rapid progress of hardware and software, this microscopy technique has become increasingly important as an atomic-scale structural analysis method. In addition, technologies that enable analysis of membrane proteins without crystallization have been developed, resulting in increased use of cryo-electron microscopy for drug discovery. Thus, installation of cryo-electron microscopes (cryo-EM) in universities and research laboratories is greatly accelerating. To meet the needs of cryo-EM users, JEOL has developed a new cryo-EM “CRYO ARM™ 200”, which automatically acquires image data for Single Particle Analysis over a long period of time.

Main Features

• Automated specimen exchange system
  The system is composed of a specimen stage to cool samples at liquid nitrogen temperature and a cryo-transfer system to automatically transfer the cooled samples to the cryo-stage. Liquid nitrogen is automatically supplied to the liquid nitrogen tank as required. This automated system features the storing of up to 12 samples and the exchange of arbitrary one or more samples while the rest of samples are kept cooled between the specimen stage and specimen exchange system. These unique capabilities enable flexible scheduling of microscopy.
• Cold field emission gun (Cold FEG)
  Cold FEG produces a high-brightness electron beam with very small energy spread, offering high coherency. Thus, the CRYO ARM™ 200 achieves high resolution, high contrast imaging.
• Incolumn energy filter (omega filter)
  Equipped with an incolumn energy filter (omega filter), the CRYO ARM™ 200 acquires energy filtered images and energy loss spectra. Zero-loss image acquired with the microscope provides high contrast with reduced chromatic aberration.
• Automated image acquisition software for Single Particle Analysis
  The CRYO ARM™ 200 incorporates automated software. The software allows for automated detection of holes on the specimen grid for efficient acquisition of Single Particle Analysis images.
• Hole-free phase plate^*1
  This unique phase plate is suitable for higher contrast in biological specimens which originally provide only low contrast.
• Auto adjustment functions ^*2
  Auto focus, auto coma-free alignment, auto parallel-beam illumination and other automated adjustments are available, enabling image acquisition under optimum conditions.

*1: Optional unit. *2: Images acquired with the bottom mount camera are used.

Main Specifications

Main instrument

※ Schottky field emission gun can optionally be configured.

Specimen Stage / Automated specimen exchange system

Note: In the near future, JEOL is planning to release a 300 kV cryo-electron microscope.