Unlocking the mysteries of life—aging, curing disease, and improving health—starts within the cell. A single cell contains fundamental processes in amazing systems that integrate complex information into a highly functional unit of life. Understanding sub-cellular mechanisms and components is essential to understanding larger life processes. Most cellular structures, proteins and organelles are too small to be resolved by light microscopes, but they can be resolved by cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM). However, single particle cryo-EM is limited to highly purified and isolated proteins lacking a connection to the cellular context. Cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) expands cryo-EM by visualizing proteins that contribute to a mechanism within their functional cellular environments from a flash-frozen cell—all within a single cryo-ET 3D dataset. Our Thermo Fisher Scientific integrated cryo-electron tomography workflow provides label-free, fixation-free, nanometer-resolution imaging of targeted regions from light microscopy. Seeing the entire picture on multiple levels from molecules to organelles, complements existing dynamic techniques for highly accurate data to make breakthrough discoveries.
We have reviewed the literature and made a list of the latest peer-reviewed cell biology publications.
Register to download the Cell Biology Update for Cryo-Electron Tomography.