Ongoing Enhancements
New funding through the U-M Biosciences Initiative will enable the university to become an international leader in the field and a premier destination for cryo-EM research and training.
Michigan was an early adopter of cryo-EM, and the a new grant from the U-M Biosciences Initiative positions the university to distinguish itself in the field further by hiring new faculty members and adopting new cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) and correlative light and electron microscopy (CLEM) technologies. This investment will increase the availability of cryo-EM to researchers across the university.
The Biosciences Initiative funding will also allow U-M to develop additional educational and training opportunities to bring the technique to labs across campus, as well as to provide more hands-on training to the growing ranks of practitioners across the world — building on the success of our first hands-on image processing workshop, which was held in 2018. The goal is to make U-M a leading institution and destination for growing the next generation of cryo-EM specialists.
Equipment
With the new enhancements, our cryo-EM facility will include:
- two Titan Krios microscopes each with Volta phase plate, energy filter, and K3 direct electron detector
- Aquilos FIB-SEM
- Leica EM Cryo CLEM microscope
- Talos Arctica with K2 direct electron detector
- Glacios with Falcon 3EC direct electron detector and CetaD detector for microED
- Tecnai T12 with US4000 CCD detector
- Morgagni for negative stain screening
- picoliter-dispensing Chameleon sample preparation robot
- and two Vitrobot plunge-freezing devices
New Hiring
We are currently seeking faculty candidates specializing in CLEM. Read the full job ad at the Biosciences Initiative website.
Education & Training
Support from the Biosciences Initiative is also helping us to invite leading experts in the field to campus as well as support hands-on workshops and training.
Recent speaker examples:
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Justin Taraska, Ph.D., National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
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Benjamin Engel, Ph.D., Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry
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Elizabeth Villa, Ph.D., University of California, San Diego
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Wolfgang Baumeister, Ph.D., Max Plank Institute of Biochemistry
To learn more about current and past workshop offerings, visit the Michigan Cryo-EM Workshops page.