Cryo-EM of Soft Matter - an Update

Yeshayahu Talmon, Chemical Engineering, Technion, Haifa, Israel


Recent advances in instrumentation and in methodology have expanded the spectrum of soft matter systems that can be directly imaged by cryogenic-temperature transmission- and scanning electron microscopy (cryo-TEM and cryo-SEM). Better electron optics, more sensitive electron cameras, and “phase plates” have made low-contrast, highly beam-sensitive systems approachable by cryo-TEM. Better electron guns, more sensitive electron detectors, and improved cryo-specimen preparation methodologies, have extended the range of material systems that we can be study by cryo-SEM

In my talk I will describe briefly the state-of-the-technology of cryo-TEM and cryo-SEM. I will demonstrate the application of our methodologies in nano- and biotechnology. Among others I will describe applications in the study of microemulsions, lyotropic liquid crystals, extracellular vesicles, and carbon nanotubes phase development in chlorosulfonic acid.