Study of rapid freezing method of wet bio-specimens

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25610118
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Biological physics/Chemical physics/Soft matter physics
• Research Institution: Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
• Principal Investigator: MINODA Hiroki 東京農工大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 教授 (20240757)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 環境制御電子顕微鏡 / クライオ電子顕微鏡 / 試料瞬間凍結

Outline of Final Research Achievements

A rapid freezing cryo-specimen holder was constructed to investigate a change of the structure of specimen during rapid freezing processes. After the construction the cooling tests were carried out. The temperature at the top of the heat conducting rod down to -164℃. This is almost the same as commercial type cryo-holder. The temperature at the sample position was about 30℃ higher than the top of the heat conducting rod when the heat conducting is on. This temperature level is similar to that I expected. When the heat conducting off state change to the on state the temperature down to this temperature level about 1min. These performance is a sufficient level. However, the temperature at the heat-conducting off state was about-30℃. The specimen should freeze at this temperature and rapid freezing experiment should be impossible. Thus, reconstruction of the the holder structure is still necessary.

Free Research Field

電子顕微鏡学