Imaging and elemental mapping of biological specimens with a dual-EDS dedicated scanning transmission electron microscope

J. S. Wu*, A. M. Kim, R. Bleher, B. D. Myers, R. G. Marvin, H. Inada, K. Nakamura, X. F. Zhang, E. Roth, S. Y. Li, T. K. Woodruff, T. V. O'Halloran, Vinayak P. Dravid

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

39 Scopus citations

Abstract

A dedicated analytical scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) with dual energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) detectors has been designed for complementary high performance imaging as well as high sensitivity elemental analysis and mapping of biological structures. The performance of this new design, based on a Hitachi HD-2300A model, was evaluated using a variety of biological specimens. With three imaging detectors, both the surface and internal structure of cells can be examined simultaneously. The whole-cell elemental mapping, especially of heavier metal species that have low cross-section for electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), can be faithfully obtained. Optimization of STEM imaging conditions is applied to thick sections as well as thin sections of biological cells under low-dose conditions at room and cryogenic temperatures. Such multimodal capabilities applied to soft/biological structures usher a new era for analytical studies in biological systems.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)24-31
Number of pages8
JournalUltramicroscopy
Volume128
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2013

Funding

Research was supported by the W.M. Keck Foundation Medical Research Award , a SPARK Award from the Chicago Biomedical Consortium and NIH and National Institutes of Health Grants GM038784 (O’Halloran), P01 HD021921 Project 3 (Woodruff). This work was performed in the EPIC facility of NUANCE Center and the QBIC facility in the Chemistry of Life Processes Institute at Northwestern University. The NUANCE Center is supported by NSF-NSEC, NSF-MRSEC, Keck Foundation, the State of Illinois and Northwestern University. The protein hydrogel sample was kindly provided by Prof. George Anne for testing at University of Chicago.

Keywords

  • Cryo-transmission electron microscopy
  • Scanning transmission electron microscopy
  • X-ray EDS analysis

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
  • Instrumentation

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