Electron Cryo-Microscopy

With extensive technological and computational leaps over the past couple of decades, cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) has rapidly come to the fore as a workhorse of structural biology, enabling the imaging of particles, including protein complexes, viruses and cells, in their native state at resolutions that supersedes those of other imaging techniques. 

Sample Preparation

OPIC offers a range of plunging devices to cater for a range of experimental constraints, be it the need for single-sided blotting, or plunge freezing of high containment level organisms.

Within our 'yellow suite', operating at category 2 level (with category 3 capability), we have three plunging devices:

-Manual plunger.

-CryoPlunge-3 (CP3, Gatan).

-GP2 leica.

In addition, we have two Vitrobots.

Imaging Facilities

OPIC houses two state-of-the-art cryo-electron microscopes to both internal and external users:

Titan Krios G3i (Thermo Fisher Scientific) 300-kV transmission electron microscope equipped with Falcon III and K2 Summit/GIF (Gatan) direction electron detectors.

Glacios (Thermo Fisher Scientific) 200-kV, equipped with a Falcon III.

Cell culture for virus production

OPIC houses two SAPO category 3 level laboratory facilities for mammalian cell culture for virus infection, production and purification.