Facility Details

The IUB Electron Microscopy Center (IUB-EMC) is a core facility located in Myers and Simon Hall on the IU-Bloomington campus. The IUB-EMC houses a large sample chamber 30 kV JSM 5800LV scanning electron microscope (SEM), a work-horse 100 kV JEM 1010 transmission electron microscope (TEM) and a more powerful 300 kV JEM 3200FS TEM. These microscopes were manufactured by the JEOL company. We have both standard and high-tilt Gatan cryo-holders for the JEOL 3200FS, which is equipped with an in-column energy filter, scan coils for scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and detectors for bright-field and high-angle, annular dark-field imaging (BF- and HAADF-STEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). All these features make it an ideal instrument for both cryo-electron microscopy (cryoEM) and analytical electron microscopy (AEM). The facility also has the equipment necessary to prepare samples for these microscopes, including a new Wohlwend HPF Compact 2 high pressure freezer, a Leica AFS-2 freeze substitution device, various ultra-microtomes, both a Vitrobot Mk3 and an EMS manual plunge freezer, a Denton vacuum evaporator, a Balzars critical point dryer and a Polaron sputter coater. The IUB-EMC also has a close working relationship with the IUB campus computer center, facilitating storage and back-up of imaging data and the extensive computational infrastructure required for cryoEM.
The IUB-EMC is staffed by three Ph.D.-level scientists (staff director Gavin Murphy, Barry Stein and David Morgan), with over 70 years of combined experience using various EM techniques ranging from conventional sample preparation such as embedding, staining and sectioning through cryo-electron tomography (cryoET) and high resolution structural biology using cryoEM techniques. The staff both trains people to use equipment (fee-for-use work) and also collects and processes data for people (fee-for-service work). Users are encouraged to collect their own images, but feasibility studies and preliminary information can often be generated more rapidly by the staff. There is no charge for staff time used during consulting or equipment training. All users are charged an hourly rate for equipment usage. In the case of fee-for-service work, an additional hourly charge is added to cover staff time. We have close ties to the IUB Light Microscopy Imaging Center (LMIC) and are especially interested in talking with people who are using light microscopy, but have not even thought about the possibility of electron microscopy. Finally, the IUB-EMC is open to all academic and non-academic users.