The IBMB-CSIC-ALBA cryo-EM Platform was born in 2022 and is based at the ALBA Synchrotron in Barcelona.
The IBMB-CSIC cryo-EM Platform was born in 2022 with the aim of filling the needs of the structural biology community in the East of Spain. The platform allocates a 200kV Glacios cryo-microscope equipped with an autoloader and a Falcon 4 direct electron detector. The platform is part of the Joint Electron Microscopy Center at ALBA (JEMCA), located at the ALBA synchrotron. The facility is specialized in rapid optimization and screening of difficult samples, including purified endogenous proteins, membrane proteins and proteins with low molecular weights (below 100 kDa). The platform is equipped with a GloCube Plus glow discharge system and two devices for sample vitrification, a Vitrobot Mark IV system and a Leica EM GP plunge freezing. The presence of an AKTA Pure protein purification system in the same laboratory, available to the public users, allows the purification of macromolecular complexes just before vitrification. A GPU workstation is also available for on-the-fly data processing, reaching 2D classification for the initial check of sample quality.
Carrer de la Llum, 2, 26
08290 Cerdanyola del Vallès
Barcelona
Spain
IBMB-CSIC-ALBA cryoEM Platform is currently available for remote access, as well as physical visits by national and international scientists. For information on the availability of specific technologies contact pglcri@ibmb.csic.es.
How to find
You will find information on Travelling to IBMB-CSIC-ALBA cryoEM Platform here.
You will find a list of accommodation options here.
The Platform is equipped with 200 kV TEM, Glacios from Thermo Scientific, with extreme field emission gun (X-FEG) optics, equipped with a cryogenic sample manipulator robot for up to 12 grids and a last generation Falcon 4 direct electron detector with a capability of 300 movies/h. Its high level of automation and user guidance of experimental settings enable scientists to efficiently unravel protein structures in 3D, as well as understand their functional context in the biological cell.
Access to the following instrumentation is provided: the Glacios cryo-electron microscope which allows high-resolution SPA and cryoET automated data collection, two plunge freezing robots: Leica EM GP and Thermo Scientific Vitrobot Mark IV and an AKTA Pure protein purification system.
