Spotiton: New features and applications

Venkata P Dandey; Hui Wei; Zhening Zhang; Yong Zi Tan; Priyamvada Acharya; Edward T Eng; William J Rice; Peter A Kahn; Clinton S Potter; Bridget Carragher

doi:10.1016/j.jsb.2018.01.002

Spotiton: New features and applications

J Struct Biol. 2018 May;202(2):161-169. doi: 10.1016/j.jsb.2018.01.002.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ The National Resource for Automated Molecular Microscopy, Simons Electron Microscopy Center, New York Structural Biology Center, 89 Convent Ave, New York, NY, USA.
² The National Resource for Automated Molecular Microscopy, Simons Electron Microscopy Center, New York Structural Biology Center, 89 Convent Ave, New York, NY, USA; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA.
³ The National Resource for Automated Molecular Microscopy, Simons Electron Microscopy Center, New York Structural Biology Center, 89 Convent Ave, New York, NY, USA; Vaccine Research Center, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
⁴ Engineering Arts LLC, Phoenix, AZ, USA.
⁵ The National Resource for Automated Molecular Microscopy, Simons Electron Microscopy Center, New York Structural Biology Center, 89 Convent Ave, New York, NY, USA; Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. Electronic address: bcarr@nysbc.org.

Abstract

We present an update describing new features and applications of Spotiton, a novel instrument for vitrifying samples for cryoEM. We have used Spotiton to prepare several test specimens that can be reconstructed using routine single particle analysis to ∼3 Å resolution, indicating that the process has no apparent deleterious effect on the sample integrity. The system is now in routine and continuous use in our lab and has been used to successfully vitrify a wide variety of samples.

Keywords: cryoEM vitrification; nanowire grids; piezo dispensing.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Cryoelectron Microscopy / instrumentation*
Nanowires / chemistry
Optical Tweezers*
Robotics / instrumentation
Specimen Handling / methods*
Vitrification*

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding