Multimodal scanning electron microscope for three-dimensional imaging of biological specimens

Recent developments have enabled special microscopes, which include both an electron and an ion beam, to be optimized for biological investigations. These microscopes are revolutionizing biomedical research by allowing scientists to open windows into cells, tissues and organisms, and peek into their inner workings, generating a wealth of biomedically relevant data. We are requesting funds to acquire such a microscope in Cambridge, where it will be used by a large number of laboratories for 3D imaging of cells (e.g. dividing human cells) and tissues (e.g. Drosophila brain) at high-resolution under native conditions. This versatile instrument will provide a link between atomic and molecular structural data on one hand to 3D ultrastructure of tissues on the other, a complete transformational advance for our research. This will lead to new collaborations, ideas and new discoveries at the MRC-LMB and beyond.