Thermo Scientific iFLM Correlative System enables light microscopy inside the Aquilos 2 Cryo-FIB

Thermo Fisher Scientific has unveiled the Thermo Scientific iFLM Correlative System, the company's first integrated fluorescence light microscope and a value-added component for the Thermo Scientific Aquilos 2 Cryo-FIB. This enhancement enables cell biologists to streamline their sample preparation process for cellular cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET).

With the iFLM Correlative System, fluorescently labelled areas can be localized in the frozen sample from within the Aquilos 2 Cryo-FIB chamber. This allows users to select specific cellular regions for FIB milling and facilitates monitoring and validation by helping to ensure the correct target sites are being prepared.

This approach reduces the need to use a standalone light microscope to localize areas of interest, avoids transfer steps that bear risks for contaminating samples, and makes the correlation between light and electron microscopy easier and faster than using two separate microscopes.

"At Thermo Fisher, we continue to help scientists expand their knowledge of cell biology down to a molecular level using high-resolution cryo-electron microscopy," said Trisha Rice, vice president and general manager of life sciences at Thermo Fisher. "By simplifying the light-to-electron correlation step, and by eliminating a sample transfer step, our new iFLM Correlative System helps users to locate regions of interest faster so that they can gather answers to their biological questions."

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