CIMEX - Interdisciplinary Center for Electron Microscopy
CIMEX is the Interdisciplinary Center for Electron Microscopy of Ecole polytechnique. It is equipped with a TITAN Themis microscope. This is a multi-purpose microscope adapted to the daily characterization and imaging needs of physicists, chemists and biologists at the École Polytechnique. The platform is equipped with everything needed for grid freezing (Leica EM GP freezing robot), and a Gatan ELSA side-entry sample holder for cryo-microscopy. The TITAN Themis microscope is used routinely by the Structural Cell Biology Laboratory (BIOC) and its collaborators for characterization and screening of sample freezing conditions. The microscope and its FALCON 3 direct electron detection camera record around 100 images per hour, providing data for 3D reconstruction of high-resolution volumes (of the order of 3-4Å for ribosomes after one night's collection). This microscope is ideal for an initial structural characterization of a sample, prior to a more specific study at very high resolution on more stable and faster microscopes dedicated to cryo-EM. The Platform is also fully equipped for negative staining of biological samples. |
| Thematics: Cryo-EM, Structural Biochemistry, Microscopy |
Type of techniques
- Vitrification of grids
- Negative staining
- Cryo-EM
Equipments
- TITAN Themis G2 300kV microscope with FALCON 3 direct-detection camera
- Gatan Elsa side-entry sample holder for cryo-microscopy
- PELCO easiglow evaporator
- Cressington 208C carbon evaporator
- Leica EM-GP automatic guillotine
- Manual guillotine
- NanoSoft clipping station
- GPUs for data processing
How to access
- Academic research collaborations
- Medical research collaborations
- Industrial/ start-up partnerships
- All IP Paris
Services and training
Every year, CIMEX welcomes students from the Master 2 “Biology and Health” program at the Institut Polytechnique de Paris for a week of practical work in cryo-electron microscopy. Students are trained in the preparation and observation of samples on the microscope, as well as in the processing of the data generated.
Physical address
Ecole Polytechnique
Bâtiment 84
91120, Palaiseau
Contacts
Dr Kassiogé Dembélé, Microscope engineer
Dr Clément Madru, Assistant Professor in charge of cryo-EM
Attached laboratory
CIMEX is a Service Unit of the Ecole polytechnique. However, maintenance and use of the cryo-EM equipment is provided by the BIOC (Cell Structural Biology) laboratory - UMR7654.