Researchers at Duke are hard at work in the development of a novel vaccine to fight the coronavirus. The cryo-transmission electron microscope housed at Duke’s Shared Materials Instrumentation Facility (SMIF) is playing a major role in this work. This microscope helps scientists determine the structure of proteins in the virus to help guide vaccine design. To learn more, see the press release here.
The Analytical Instrumentation Facility (AIF) at NC State recently added the CryoSEM JEOL JSM-7600 to its characterization repertoire. This system can be used to evaluate hydrated, beam sensitive, volatile and low melting point specimens that are normally difficult to image in traditional SEM. The image displayed here shows the microstructure of a fibrin-thrombin hydrogel in its hydrated state. For more information, please visit the AIF website or contact Chuanzhen Zhou at her email czhou@ncsu.edu.