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Related Concept Videos

Electron Microscope Tomography and Single-particle Reconstruction01:07

Electron Microscope Tomography and Single-particle Reconstruction

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) can be used to determine the 3D structure of biological samples with the help of techniques such as electron microscope tomography and single-particle reconstruction. While single-particle reconstruction can examine macromolecules and macromolecular complexes in vitro conditions only, tomography permits the study of cell components or small cells in vivo.
Electron Tomography
Electron tomography can be performed either in TEM or STEM (scanning transmission...
Transmission Electron Microscopy01:15

Transmission Electron Microscopy

In 1931, physicist Ernst Ruska—building on the idea that magnetic fields can direct an electron beam just as lenses can direct a beam of light in an optical microscope—developed the first prototype of the electron microscope. This development led to the development of the field of electron microscopy. In the transmission electron microscope (TEM), electrons are produced by a hot tungsten element and accelerated by a potential difference in an electron gun, which gives them up to 400 keV in...
Overview of Electron Microscopy01:25

Overview of Electron Microscopy

The wavelengths of visible light ultimately limit the maximum theoretical resolution of images created by light microscopes. Most light microscopes can only magnify 1000X, and a few can magnify up to 1500X. Electrons, like electromagnetic radiation, can behave like waves, but with wavelengths of 0.005 nm, they produce significantly greater resolution up to 0.05 nm as compared to 500 nm for visible light. An electron microscope (EM) can create a sharp image that is magnified up to 2,000,000X.
Cryo-electron Microscopy01:28

Cryo-electron Microscopy

Conventional electron microscopy (EM) involves dehydration, fixation, and staining of biological samples, which distorts the native state of biological molecules and results in several artifacts. Also, the high-energy electron beam damages the sample and makes it difficult to obtain high-resolution images. These issues can be addressed using cryo-EM, which uses frozen samples and gentler electron beams. The technique was developed by Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank, and Richard Henderson, for...
Scanning Electron Microscopy01:07

Scanning Electron Microscopy

A scanning electron microscope (SEM) is used to study the surface features of a sample by using an electron beam that scans the sample surface in a two-dimensional manner. Typically, areas between ~1 centimeter to 5 micrometers in width can be imaged. SEM can be used to image bacteria, viruses, tissues as well as larger samples like insects. Conventional SEM gives a magnification ranging from 20X to 30,000X and spatial resolution of 50 to 100 nanometers.
Fundamental Principles
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 6, 2026

Energy Dispersive X-ray Tomography for 3D Elemental Mapping of Individual Nanoparticles
10:00

Energy Dispersive X-ray Tomography for 3D Elemental Mapping of Individual Nanoparticles

Published on: July 5, 2016

Electron tomography in nanoparticle imaging and analysis.

Jeffrey S Lengyel1, Jacqueline L S Milne, Sriram Subramaniam

  • 1Laboratory of Cell Biology, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. lengyelj@mail.nih.gov

Nanomedicine (London, England)
|April 9, 2008
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Cryo-electron tomography provides high-resolution 3D structural insights into nanoparticles. This technique visualizes variations within heterogeneous biological assemblies like viruses and nanomedicines.

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Laser-induced Breakdown Spectroscopy: A New Approach for Nanoparticle's Mapping and Quantification in Organ Tissue
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Laser-induced Breakdown Spectroscopy: A New Approach for Nanoparticle's Mapping and Quantification in Organ Tissue

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Obtaining 3D Chemical Maps by Energy Filtered Transmission Electron Microscopy Tomography
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Obtaining 3D Chemical Maps by Energy Filtered Transmission Electron Microscopy Tomography

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Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 6, 2026

Energy Dispersive X-ray Tomography for 3D Elemental Mapping of Individual Nanoparticles
10:00

Energy Dispersive X-ray Tomography for 3D Elemental Mapping of Individual Nanoparticles

Published on: July 5, 2016

Laser-induced Breakdown Spectroscopy: A New Approach for Nanoparticle's Mapping and Quantification in Organ Tissue
10:17

Laser-induced Breakdown Spectroscopy: A New Approach for Nanoparticle's Mapping and Quantification in Organ Tissue

Published on: June 18, 2014

Obtaining 3D Chemical Maps by Energy Filtered Transmission Electron Microscopy Tomography
08:15

Obtaining 3D Chemical Maps by Energy Filtered Transmission Electron Microscopy Tomography

Published on: June 9, 2018

Area of Science:

  • Structural biology
  • Nanotechnology
  • Biophysics

Background:

  • Many medically important biological nanoparticles are too large or heterogeneous for traditional structural analysis (e.g., X-ray crystallography, NMR spectroscopy).
  • Existing structural methods often require homogeneous samples and average out variations.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the principles of cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) for 3D nanoparticle analysis.
  • To illustrate cryo-ET applications in visualizing complex biological nanostructures.

Main Methods:

  • Cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) principles for 3D reconstruction.
  • Application of cryo-ET to analyze enveloped viruses.
  • Utilizing cryo-ET for size and compositional analysis of nanomedicines.

Main Results:

  • Cryo-ET enables high-resolution structural determination of heterogeneous nanoparticle assemblies.
  • Tomography allows visualization and quantification of structural variations within mixed populations.
  • Demonstrated utility in analyzing enveloped virus architecture and nanomedicine (Doxil) characteristics.

Conclusions:

  • Cryo-electron tomography is a powerful emerging technique for studying nanoparticles.
  • It offers unique capabilities for analyzing structural heterogeneity in biological assemblies.
  • Cryo-ET has significant potential for advancing nanomedicine and virology research.