Fast Electron Microscopy fundamentals

Higher throughput for EM is useful in many situations, be it processing multiple samples at the same time or imaging in larger projects, like volume EM or large area imaging.

Volume electron microscopy

Processes in life rarely occur in two dimensions, so three-dimensional EM or volume EM is especially helpful to understand the architecture of tissues or organisms. Most volume EM techniques can produce 3D data by imaging many subsequent sections of a sample, which are then reconstructed into a 3D representation for analysis.

Researchers in fields like cell biology and neurobiology rely heavily on volume EM to answer their research questions. Its high resolution is indispensable to visualize the nanoscale details that define individual cells. This also makes it a useful technique in the connectomics field, where the ability to resolve the intricate structures of neurons at nanometer-range resolution is indispensable to map the interactions between neurons in the brain.

The increased throughput of faster electron microscopes is highly beneficial for volume EM, as larger volumes can be imaged within a smaller amount of time. This opens the way to ever-larger projects, like imaging an entire hemisphere or even entire brains for connectomics. At the same time, high-throughput imaging enables comparative studies, which were previously too time-consuming to be feasible.

Application: neurobiology, cell biology, histology, plant biology, biofilm analysis.

Large scale electron imaging

High-throughput electron microscopy is highly useful for large-scale electron microscopy, where high-resolution imaging is performed on large samples ranging from tissues or organs. Large-scale imaging data provides both nanoscale information to analyze subcellular details, but also the context needed to understand the distribution of cell types within tissues or organs.

High-throughput solutions enable a rapid, unbiased method of data collection, which is crucial for large-scale imaging. The throughput facilitates studies with larger sample sizes, comparisons between healthy and diseased material, and screening of drug treatments or mutants, all while retaining nanometer-range resolution.

Application: digital pathology, analysis of tissues, cells, biomaterials, soft matter

High-throughput imaging in facilities

Imaging facilities often handle material from many different researchers, each with a different research question. This presents logistical and biological challenges. Researchers face a high turnaround time of data since data collection is a time-consuming process. At the same time, the slow speed of the EM means that there is a limit to the sample size, which in turn presents a risk of underestimating the heterogeneity of samples.

Automated, high-throughput microscopy enables a fundamental shift in EM: samples can be imaged automatically at high speed, while region of interest (ROI) selection and data analysis can be performed offline (away from the microscope). Since a microscope operator is no longer needed to identify relevant biological structures at the microscope, many or larger samples can be imaged within the same amount of time. Through the increased throughput, it is possible to routinely image many samples while retaining the biological context.

FAST-EM is a high-throughput and fully automated electron microscope that allows you to overcome those limitations. With FAST-EM you no longer need to strike a compromise between the size and number of samples, the resolution used for imaging, and the time available for imaging. The reliable and automated workflow of FAST-EM ensures consistent imaging quality throughout the project without constant supervision. This means that FAST-EM is capable of imaging a large number of sample sections, and producing large quantities of data, in a very reduced amount of time, up to 100 times faster compared to conventional scanning electron microscopes. 

Its throughput is achieved by a combination of several technological features. The system is a multibeam scanning electron microscope, capable of imaging with 64 beams in parallel. Combined with highly automated software and robust microscope components, the system sustains throughputs of up to a hundred times higher than a conventional electron microscope.

It is the only high throughput EM where image formation is achieved through a scanning transmission strategy, combined with optical detection. In comparison to typical EM detection modes, where secondary (SE) and backscattered (BSE) electrons are detected, transmission imaging generates higher contrast and superior signal to noise ratios (SNR). This detection setup can be used effectively at dwell times as short as 400 ns, which facilitates a high acquisition speed. Thus, it makes FAST-EM highly usable for high throughput imaging of biological material.

To image signal in transmission mode, samples are placed directly on a scintillator screen, which produces photons when hit by charged particles like electrons. The number of photons depends on the sample: electron dense regions will deflect more electrons away from the scintillator, which in turn produces less light, while electron-lucent regions will produce more light. The differences in light intensity can therefore be used as a mechanism to generate contrast.

The light produced in the scintillator is detected optically. A microscope objective beneath the scintillator projects the light produced by the 64 beamlets onto a fast and highly sensitive silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) array.

Unique features of FAST-EM

• High acquisition speed by using 64 electron beams and short dwell times;
• Collect a large quantity of material reliably. Use various sample preparation techniques with FAST-EM;
• Start analyzing immediately. Create very large, pre-stitched, fields of view;
• Use with ease. Acquire data with an intuitive graphical user interface