MICROSCOPY Vol.45▶No.1 2010
â– Lectures

Automated TEM Data Collection for Single Particle Analysis

Natsuko Nakamura

Abstract: Single particle analysis is a TEM application to structural biology. While it has a favorable feature which does not require crystallization of the target particle, it also has an undesirable feature which needs to collect a huge number of data. In the present field, a thin layer of vitreous ice is formed in holes of the supporting film and an appropriate specimen area is selected by DIFF shadow imaging. Their low signal-to-noise ratio and pincushion or barrel distortion prevent automation of searching. An automated data acquisition system JADAS, which can overcome those problems, will be described.

Key words: Single particle analysis, DIFF shadow image, Distortion correction, Automated data collection, Image processing