New Environmental Chamber for Ultramicrotomes shown at EMBO and SFm
Boeckeler RMC Products celebrated the successful launch of its new environmental chamber for ultramicrotomy during a training demonstration at the Société Française Mu (SFmu) 2011 conference held in Strasbourg, France in June 2011. According to Boeckeler President Pat Brey, the demonstration included an impressive array of sectioning methods including sectioning for low-voltage TEM (transmission electron microscopy), Tokuyasu immunolabeling and CEMOVIS (cryo-electron microscopy of vitreous sections) sectioning.
The environmental chamber was critical to creating the parameters necessary for producing a continuous ribbon of 25 sections of a frozen hydrated sample 50 nm thick that had been flash frozen under high pressure. Such high-pressure freezing of biological specimens retains as much cell structure as possible for viewing under an electron microscope. According to Mr. Brey, the CEMOVIS method of sample preparation is experiencing resurgence in popularity among cell biologists since it was introduced in the 1980s, due in part to advances in overcoming some of the difficulties first encountered in the method.
“These tiny ribbons are so thin, they could be free-floating,” Mr Brey says. “So, that means that the environment around the RMC ultramicrotome had to be especially free of air movement and static charges, which the chamber and ionizer successfully provided.” Of course, he says, the demonstration depended heavily on expert assistance from French scientists who properly trimmed, sectioned and gently guided sections of the frozen sample onto the EM grid. The work was performed on samples frozen in the laboratory of Daniele Spehner from the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology (IGBMC). Colleague Caroline Kizilyaprak from Bruno Humbel’s lab at the University of Lausanne, Faculty of Biology and Medicine at the Dubochet Center in Switzerland. and Greg Becker of RMC performed the sample trimming and sectioning, using a Diatome 35-degree diamond knife.
The complete system used in the demonstration included a RMC PT-PC PowerTome ultramicrotome, which includes a PC controller with manual tactile controller, an anti-vibration table, a video package including the new Lumenera 1280 X 1024 high resolution camera combined with a Zeiss photo-stereo microscope with a 50/50% beam splitter, and HP TouchSmart 610z integrated PC with 23” HD monitor that displayed the ultramicrotome image to students and colleagues discussing the sample.
“It was an amazing three weeks in France,” Mr Brey continues. “Prior to the SFmu conference, RMC’s Gareth Morgan and Greg Becker supported the EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organization) course on structural biology, also in Strasbourg, and received a lot of good feedback from biologists there who used two RMC PT-PC cryo-ultramicrotomes for the duration of the course. We’re especially excited that we’ve put a system together that can support any method of cryo-sectioning including CEMOVIS. We are focused on improving our instruments and accessories so that these challenging techniques may become routine in the future.”
Boeckeler Instruments Inc. is a Tucson, Ariz.-based manufacturer of sample preparation equipment for electron microscopy, precision measuring instruments and video measuring and marking devices (telestrators) for the industrial, biomedical, broadcast, and presentation markets. The company’s RMC Products division offers a full product line of ultramicrotomes, cryosectioning systems, motorized/rotary microtomes, automated EM tissue processors, glass knife makers, freeze substitution systems, high pressure freezing machines and freeze fracture systems. Boeckeler also employs highly respected experts in sample preparation who are happy to share their knowledge with customers and the industry at large.
The company’s website is at www.rmcproducts.com
Picture caption: Image shows CEMOVIS serial-cut sections of yeast at 50 nm thickness using an RMC PT-PC cryo-ultramicrotome system. Image courtesy of Boeckeler Instruments, Inc.
