All that glitters can be gold: Imaging tech could increase data quality, support drug discovery
Quantifoil, a supplier of electron microscopy (EM) sample supports, has signed an exclusive contract to add HexAuFoil, a new all-gold cryo-electron microscope sample support technology, to its range.
HexAuFoil has been designed to help structural biology researchers in pharma, biotech and academia maximize data collection speed and resolution, enabling movement-free imaging to increase data quality in biological structure determination for drug discovery and basic research.
Over the last decade, the use of cryo-EM to study biomolecules has increased exponentially, and it can now produce truly atomic resolution structures, said Quantifoil.
However, sample preparation is widely recognized as a significant problem slowing the routine use of the technique for drug discovery and basic research. Plunge-freezing of biological samples is required for cryo-EM analysis, but results in the build-up of compressive strain in the ice. Release of this strain due to electron-beam induced local heating causes the image to blur.
Chris Russo and Katerina Naydenova of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge, UK, created HexAuFoil gold supports to overcome this issue.
The <1 µm holes in the supports maintain a ratio of hole size to ice thickness that prevents strain building to a high enough level for these effects to occur. As a result, particles remain stationary and structures can be extrapolated to zero dose before the biomolecules are damaged by exposure to the electron beam, explained the EM suppliers.
An additional benefit is that the hexagonal hole arrangement has a high-packing density that leads to higher data collection rates and therefore increases the throughput of resolved structures which is important for rapid lead optimization, said the company.
HexAuFoil grids have already been successfully trialed on a number of biomolecular samples, including the SARS-COV-2 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, and will make a vital contribution to the development of novel therapeutics and basic research alike, said Quantifoil.
Quantifoil joined SPT Labtech in 2019 and Russell King, head of Cryo-EM at SPT Labtech commented on the deal: “The improved performance offered by these supports will allow multiple structures to be resolved in a single day, cementing the role of cryo-EM at the heart of the drug discovery process.”
Photo courtesy of Chris Russo, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology