Cryo-Electron Microscopy
Cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) is a cryomicroscopy technique applied on samples cooled to cryogenic temperatures (i.e. very cold!.) For biological specimens, the structure is preserved by embedding in an environment of vitreous ice. (See more on the Wikipedia article Cryogenic electron microscopy.)
The following links are videos meant to present cryo-EM visually. Unfortunately, annoying noisy musical backgrounds often make it harder to understand the spoken word, as is sadly typical in “modern” videos.
Cryo-EM Animation 1:21
A very short animation to illustrate the basics. It is extracted from a longer, 6:42 min version “The electron cryo-microscopy revolution.” Uploaded May 30, 2018
A 3 minute introduction to CryoEM 2:58
This animation has more details on the algorithms used to solve the structures. Aug 17, 2011
Historical perspective
This video (4:59 min) titled “The 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: Cryo-electron microscopy explained” provides a historical perspective on the development of the technique. Oct 4, 2017
Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank, and Richard Henderson have been awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their development of cryo-electron microscopy.
Lecture: Single Particle Cryo-EM (34:06)
Speaker: Prof. Yifan Cheng (UCSF Biophysics & HHMI)
Part 1: overviews the principles of Cryo-EM – Sep 13, 2017
Part 2: Single particle Cyro-EM of membrane proteins (click link to see.)
Acronyms
cryo-EM: Cryogenic electron microscopy
HHMI: Howard Hughes Medical Institute
UCSF: University of California, San Francisco
Short Bibliography
Milne, Jacqueline L S et al. “Cryo-electron microscopy–a primer for the non-microscopist.” The FEBS journal vol. 280,1 (2013): 28-45. https://doi.org/10.1111/febs.12078
Phillip Broadwith. (2017, October 4). “Explainer: What is cryo-electron microscopy.” Chemistry World, Royal Society of Chemistry. https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/explainer-what-is-cryo-electron-microscopy/3008091.article