As global population and average longevity increase, there is inevitably a proportional rise in the number of patients in hospitals. For medical centers to keep pace, there is a need for fast, reliable screening of disease patterns. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is a mainstream, phase 2 diagnostic tool used when the nature of the disease cannot be established by alternative techniques.
As our knowledge of biological function at the nanoscale continues to grow, so does our understanding of pathological dysfunctions. TEMs have long played an important role in major pathology labs, providing a definitive diagnosis of certain conditions that are well beyond the resolving power of light microscopes. Examples include;
- Membrane thickness variations in kidney disease
- Mitochondrial changes in muscle disorders
- Cilia in neonatal lung disease
- Certain skin cancers and viral infections
In other cases, electron microscopy is used to corroborate the results of other diagnostic techniques. The use of TEM in medical diagnosis will surely increase as our knowledge of nanobiology continues to grow. Additionally, the increasing demand for high-resolution imaging across industries means that TEM technology will only continue to improve.
Collaboration, automation, and accessibility
The direct and immediate human impact of diagnostic results makes accuracy and reliability paramount concerns, putting a high value on image quality. The ability to share digital images instantly, across your facility or across the world, is also important in the collaborative environment of modern medicine. The high quality of Thermo Fisher Scientific electron microscopes is coupled with a suite of tools for data management and sharing, ensuring results are available as soon as possible.
Additionally, automated analysis of digital images is becoming increasingly common in medical diagnostics. Advances in automation and sample preparation promise to further improve the speed and reliability of TEM analysis, as well as greatly increase accessibility.
Cryo-Tomography
Cryo electron tomography (cryo-ET) delivers both structural information about individual proteins as well as their spatial arrangements within the cell. This makes it a truly unique technique and also explains why the method has such an enormous potential for cell biology. Cryo-ET can bridge the gap between light microscopy and near-atomic-resolution techniques like single-particle analysis.
Large Volume Analysis
A novel serial block-face imaging (SBFI) solution that combines multi-energy deconvolution scanning electron microscopy (MED-SEM) with in situ sectioning. Automation and ease-of-use functions provide isotropic resolution for large volume samples.
Cryo-Tomography
Cryo electron tomography (cryo-ET) delivers both structural information about individual proteins as well as their spatial arrangements within the cell. This makes it a truly unique technique and also explains why the method has such an enormous potential for cell biology. Cryo-ET can bridge the gap between light microscopy and near-atomic-resolution techniques like single-particle analysis.
Large Volume Analysis
A novel serial block-face imaging (SBFI) solution that combines multi-energy deconvolution scanning electron microscopy (MED-SEM) with in situ sectioning. Automation and ease-of-use functions provide isotropic resolution for large volume samples.
Electron microscopy services for
the life sciences
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