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Updated: Feb 4, 2026

Cryo-EM and Single-Particle Analysis with Scipion
Published on: May 29, 2021
Reducing effects of particle adsorption to the air-water interface in cryo-EM
Alex J Noble1, Hui Wei1, Venkata P Dandey1
1National Resource for Automated Molecular Microscopy, Simons Electron Microscopy Center, New York Structural Biology Center, New York, NY, USA.
Abstract:
Most protein particles prepared in vitreous ice for single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) are adsorbed to air-water or substrate-water interfaces, which can cause the particles to adopt preferred orientations. By using a rapid plunge-freezing robot and nanowire grids, we were able to reduce some of the deleterious effects of the air-water interface by decreasing the dwell time of particles in thin liquid films. We demonstrated this by using single-particle cryo-EM and cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) to examine hemagglutinin, insulin receptor complex, and apoferritin.
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