Thermo Fisher Scientific, the world leader in serving science, unveiled the Thermo Scientific iFLM Correlative System, the company’s first integrated fluorescence light microscope and a value-added component for Thermo Scientific Aquilos 2 Cryo-FIB. It enables cell biologists to streamline their sample preparation process for cellular cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET).
With the iFLM Correlative System, fluorescently labelled areas can be localized in the frozen sample from within the Aquilos 2 Cryo-FIB chamber. It allows users to select specific cellular regions for FIB milling and facilitates monitoring and validation by ensuring the correct target sites.
This approach reduces the need to use a standalone light microscope, avoids transfer steps that bear risks for contaminating samples, and makes the correlation between light and electron microscopy easier and faster, eliminating the use of two microscopes.
Trisha Rice, Vice President and General Manager of life sciences, Thermo Fisher, said: “At Thermo Fisher, we continue to help scientists expand their knowledge of cell biology down to a molecular level using high-resolution cryo-electron microscopy; by simplifying the light-to-electron correlation step, and by eliminating a sample transfer step, our new iFLM Correlative System helps users to locate regions of interest faster so that they can gather answers to their biological questions.”
