EM Resolutions, manufacturers and suppliers of tools and accessories for users of electron microscopes, report on the use of their support films in use at the Cambridge Advanced Imaging Centre. 

CAIC, the Cambridge Advanced Imaging Centre is a core resource in advanced light and electron microscopy for the School of Biological Sciences in the University of Cambridge. It has some 200 registered users and around 75 of those are electron microscopists. Those using the support films are very diverse, ranging from biochemists studying 3D reconstruction of single protein molecules to materials scientists imaging engineered nanoparticles and biologists imaging thin resin sections of cells and tissues. 

Dr Jeremy Skepper heads the state of the art biological TEM and SEM resources in CAIC. With enormous experience in sample preparation, imaging and image interpretation, Jeremy and his team have collaborators traveling from across the UK to take advantage of their expertise at the Multi-Imaging Centre, and now CAIC. Dr Skepper oversaw the smooth transformation of the former Multi-Imaging Centre into the new Cambridge Advanced Imaging Centre. 

High quality support films are essential in the provision of a platform to mount single particles and fragile sections. Talking of the films he obtains from EM Resolutions, Dr Skepper says “ The EMR films are both thin and strong giving maximum stability with minimal additional incoherent scattering of electrons and consequent image degradation. While we have obtained films from other suppliers over the years, the arrival of EMR five years ago has given us a satisfactory go-to, reliable vendor. Their extremely consistent quality and responsiveness to our requests for “one off” special supplies such as differing thickness of films or different patterns of grids is vital for us.” 

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