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Enabling new structural biology opportunities with scalable cryo-ET
Cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) enables the study of biological structure in its native cellular context, but many studies have been limited by the inability to prepare enough high-quality lamellae for robust, quantitative analysis.
The Thermo Scientific Arctis Cryo-Plasma-FIB delivers automated, multi-grid lamella preparation with minimal user intervention, which makes it easier to scale up cryo-ET studies. With the Arctis Cryo-Plasma FIB, researchers can design cryo-ET experiments around biological variability, comparative analysis, and statistical confidence rather than sample-preparation constraints.
The following applications illustrate how scalable, low-intervention lamella preparation enables cryo-ET studies that were previously difficult to perform systematically.
Scaling cryo-ET through automated lamella preparation
Cryo-ET is increasingly applied to questions where biological variability matters, including differences between cells, conditions, or functional states. Studies of cellular architecture, organelle organization, cytoskeletal networks, and macromolecular assemblies in situ all benefit from observing structures across many cells rather than relying on isolated examples.
The Arctis Cryo-Plasma-FIB supports automated lamella preparation across multiple grids within a single run, reducing manual intervention and enabling planned, multi-sample cryo-ET studies. Researchers can examine multiple cells from the same sample, compare phenotypes across perturbations, or assess structural changes across experimental conditions, supporting more robust experimental conclusions.
This shift allows cryo-ET to function as a quantitative and comparative technique rather than one limited to single illustrative tomograms.
Supporting high-quality lamella preparation and workflows with cryo-ET
As cryo-ET is applied to more complex biological questions, lamella quality and workflow integration become critical for reliable data acquisition and interpretation. Variability introduced during sample preparation can obscure biological differences and limit downstream analysis.
The Arctis Cryo-Plasma-FIB enables controlled lamella thinning, producing thin lamellae with clean surfaces and geometries suitable for reliable tilt-series acquisition and reconstruction. Representative datasets demonstrate lamella thickness distributions and tomograms suitable for cryo-ET and downstream structural analysis.
By combining automated lamella preparation with vacuum-protected transfer, the Arctis Cryo-Plasma-FIB supports connected workflows from sample preparation through cryo-TEM imaging. Integration with techniques such as high-pressure freezing and cryo-lift-out enables cryo-ET studies of more complex and tissue-derived samples.
Improving tomographic efficiency and yield
Efficient tomographic data collection depends on lamella geometry and alignment that support reliable tilt-series acquisition and reconstruction. When lamellae are transferred between instruments with preserved orientation using the Tomogrid, downstream tomography and follow-up tasks become more predictable and productive.
This improvement is particularly relevant for routine cryo-ET workflows, including high-resolution cellular tomography, comparative studies across biological conditions, and facility-based studies where microscope time is shared across users. Increased efficiency improves the proportion of usable tomograms per acquisition session and reduces failed or suboptimal data collection.
As a result, cryo-ET studies can be planned with greater confidence in data yield, helping laboratories make more effective use of available microscope time without altering the intrinsic acquisition rate of tomograms.
Targeting biological features with CLEM
Some of the most compelling cryo-ET applications focus on specific cellular features that are spatially localized, transient, or present at low abundance. Examples include virus–host interactions, membrane contact sites, synaptic structures, and localized protein complexes within cells.
Correlative light and electron microscopy (CLEM) makes it possible to identify these features using fluorescence and then target them for cryo-ET. By integrating CLEM into the lamella preparation workflow using the integrated fluorescence light microscope (iFLM), the Arctis Cryo-Plasma-FIB supports studies in which lamellae are prepared specifically from regions known to contain the biological structures of interest.
This targeted approach helps increase experimental success rates and makes cryo-ET feasible for applications where random sampling would be inefficient or impractical, enabling targeted cryo-ET studies at scale.
Cryo-ET applications at scale
Together, these applications illustrate how scalable, low-intervention lamella preparation makes it possible to apply cryo-ET to population-level studies, comparative analyses, routine facility workflows, and targeted investigations of specific biological structures. By reducing practical constraints on lamella preparation, the Arctis Cryo-Plasma-FIB allows cryo-ET experiments to be designed around biological questions rather than being limited by preparation constraints.
For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.