In situ ultramicrotome turns ZEISS FE-SEM into high speed 3D cell and tissue imaging system

Today, the collaboration between Carl Zeiss Microscopy and Gatan, Inc. was officially announced. Carl Zeiss Microscopy is a leading supplier of light and electron microscopes. Gatan, Inc. is the world's leading manufacturer of instrumentation and software for the enhancement of electron microscopes' operation and performance. In this joint project, the companies will promote the development and sales of a system which provides high-resolution 3D data of resin embedded cell and tissue samples.

Member of the Board and General Manager BioSciences Division of Carl Zeiss Microscopy Dr. Bernhard Ohnesorge is very pleased about the collaboration: "The 3View versions of our FE-SEMs MERLIN and SIGMA VP support the general application trend in biomedical research of 3D imaging and reconstruction to understand context in tissues. Since the knowhow of Gatan and Carl Zeiss complement each other ideally these systems are the easiest to use and fastest tools for a biologist to follow this trend into electron microscopy resolution and dramatically increase work efficiency."

It enables the automated serial blockface imaging of embedded samples (e.g. cells or tissue ) with slice thickness down to 15 nanometers. Thus, image stacks containing hundreds, or even thousands of sequential slices may be generated, and a three-dimensional profile of the sample with nanometer resolution built up. Joel Mancuso, Applications Manager at Gatan, Inc. recognizes the benefits: "The 3View system simplifies three-dimensional electron microscopy providing researchers with limited electron microscopy expertise an opportunity to collect high resolution volumetric datasets by removing the difficult step of cutting and collecting ultrathin sections." The first pilot customers are already using the systems successfully, among them Renovo Neural Inc. (Cleveland), offering 3DEM commercial services.

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