Dr. Wah Chiu
Director, National Center for Macromolecular Imaging
Baylor College of Medicine
Website: www.bcm.edu/scbmb/index.cfm?pmid=10021

Dr. Wah Chiu is renowned worldwide for his contributions to the field of electron cryomicroscopy. His lab has developed high throughput methods for imaging and solving 3-dimensional structures of macromolecular machines at atomic resolution. Biological applications include viruses, ion channels, membranes, oligomeric proteins and cyotskeletal protein complexes.

In recent publications, his team has looked beyond the highly symmetrical ball-like surface protein shell of the episilon15 bacteriophage that infects Salmonella bacteria. They have described different molecular parts involved in binding to host cells, injecting DNA into the cell and packaging it during the virus formation.

Additionally, Dr. Chiu’s recent work has included building the first atomic model directly from a single particle cryo-EM density map of Group II chaperonin, or mediator of cellular protein folding in eukaryotes and archaea.

Dr. Chiu is a professor in the BCM department of biochemistry and molecular biology, and the director of the National Center for Macromolecular Imaging. He has done extensive work using phase plate technology and JEOL TEMs - the models JEM-2200FS, JEM-2010, JEM-2100F, and JEM-3200F are used in his lab at Baylor College of Medicine.

Selected Publications:

1. Visualizing the structural changes of bacteriophage Epsilon15 and its Salmonella host during infection.
2. Zernike phase contrast cryo-electron microscopy and tomography for structure determination at nanometer and subnanometer resolutions.
3. Mechanism of folding chamber closure in a group II chaperonin.

Additional publications >

Tubulin Structure
Downing Lab, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Website: www.lbl.gov/lsd/People_&_Organization/Scientific_Staff_Directory/Downing_Lab.html

Dr. Kenneth Downing’s lab at the U.S. Department of Energy Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory made a major breakthrough for cancer research by solving the atomic level structure of tubulin, the protein responsible for cell division. The team of Eva Nogales, Sharon Wolf, and Kenneth Downing published the paper “Structure of the αβ tubulin dimer by electron crystallography” in Nature in January 1998.

Scientists had been seeking to understand tubulin since the 1950s. Better knowledge of how tubulin polymerizes into filaments that form microtubules and enable a cell to undergo mitosis would open the door to developing new anti-cancer drugs. Already, the natural substance known as Taxol had shown potential in treating a number of cancers by preventing a cell from dividing. It was vital to understand the tubulin structure and how it interacts with Taxol in order to create a more effective drug that targeted only cancer cells.

Downing’s lab was the first to create a 3-dimensional atomic model, and it was achieved through electron crystallography and cryo-EM. The resulting 3D model was a computerized reconstruction of 93 electron diffraction patterns and 159 images culled from more than 4,000 recorded over the previous six years. They were able to work with crystals only one molecule in thickness by obtaining diffraction patterns with an electron beam. In 1998, they achieved 3.7A resolution. Then in 2001, they refined the model to 3.5A resolution and published “Refined structure of alpha-beta tubulin at 3.5A resolution.” Instrumentation for this work includes the JEOL JEM-4000 and the JEM-3100F Transmission Electron Microscopes.

Oil Shale
U.S. energy companies examine oil shale porosity with unique JEOL solutions

Energy companies have turned to JEOL for SEM, FIB, and cross section polishing solutions in recent years with the express purpose of examining oil shale samples.

Investigating the potential of oil shale deposits to produce economically viable alternative sources for oil and natural gas requires requires studying the porosity of well-prepared flat samples at both the macro and nano scale.

Shale is notoriously difficult to prepare for SEM by standard mechanical methods because it tends to crumble and the features are often obscured due to smearing. Oil shale is a fine-grained, sedimentary rock composed of flakes of clay minerals and tiny fragments of other minerals, especially quartz and calcite. Shale also has a complex network of soft veins of an organic substance, kerogen and accessory opaque minerals such as pyrite.

The JEOL cross section polisher slices and polishes the sliver of shale with an argon beam to yield undistorted, precise cross sections. Every detail can be clearly seen, allowing researchers to see the complex network of veins of kerogen in the sample. They can then make 3D reconstructions of the pore network by using a Serial Slicing and Sampling technique with the Multibeam focused ion beam (FIB) instrument. To see more images of shale and other energy-related micrographs, visit our energy applications web page

Related reading:

SEM Technology Advances Energy Research.

Kazutomo Suenega
National Institute for Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
Website: staff.aist.go.jp/suenaga-kazu/

Dr. Kazu Suenega is a team leader at the National Institute for Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST). He has published over 90 scientific papers and delivered more than 50 invited lectures over the past ten years. His papers have more than 3,000 citations. He has received several awards: the Honda Memorial Promotional prize (1997) and the Seto award (Japanese society of Microscopy 2005), and the Sir Martin Wood Prize in 2006.

At AIST, Dr. Suenega’s major research theme involves the atomic level characterization of individual molecules by means of electron microscopy and spectroscopy. His team used the JEOL JEM-2100F TEM with a Schottky-type field-emission gun equipped with aberration corrector to obtain the spectacular image of the metallofullerene peapod shown in this image from the paper “Visualizing and identifying single atoms using electron energy-loss spectroscopy with low accelerating voltage” published in Nature Chemistry in August 2009.

In recent groundbreaking work, Kazu Suenaga and Masanori Koshino have imaged and characterized the electronic properties of single atoms at the edge of graphene using a probe just 0.1nm in diameter to pinpoint single atoms. Operating at a low voltage of 60kV – below the threshold of thermal or knock on damage - produced high spatial resolution while leaving samples in tact. This is the first time specific spectral peaks have been obtained from specific atoms. Their findings on how these atoms bond with one another are published in Nature.

Dr. Ilene Gipson and Ann Tisdale
Schepens Eye Research Institute
Website: www.schepens.harvard.edu

Schepens Eye Research Institute in Boston, Massachusetts is the largest free-standing eye research institute in the United States. Schepens is renowned for major breakthroughs in treatment of retinal disease, optic nerve regeneration, new cures for macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, other types of retinal and optic nerve degenerations and damage, dry eye, and eye tissue transplants.

Dr. Ilene Gipson is an Ocular Surface Scholar & Senior Scientist and, as one of Schepens’ more than 20 principal investigators, she also serves as Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. She and her staff associate, Ann Tisdale, have made mucus the focus of their investigation into dry eye disease in recent years. They have worked together for three decades studying the ocular surface of the eye and the role of mucins in its protection. They use the JEOL JSM-7401F, a previous model of one of our high resolution field emission SEMs, in their work.

We conducted an extensive interview with Dr. Gipson while on a tour of Schepens. Read more here in our REALab story.

The McCrone Group
Westmont, Illinois
Website(s): www.mccrone.com/about, www.hookecollege.com

JEOL has enjoyed a partnership with McCrone, the world’s premier microscopy resource, for more than 35 years. Founded in 1956, The McCrone Group has become internationally recognized as a world leader in microscopy, microanalysis, materials characterization, and consulting. From high profile cases such as validating the authenticity of the shroud of Turin, to problem solving and forensic analysis, the variety of samples that McCrone analyzes is endless.

A member of the McCrone Group, the Hooke College of Applied Sciences (formerly the College of Microscopy) provides education and training to scientists worldwide, either through an undergraduate program offered in collaboration with Concordia University Chicago, or through more than 40 specialized short-courses in materials analysis.

McCrone Associates uses multiple JEOL electron microscopes range from three SEMs from the JSM-6610LV family, a JSM-7500F field emission SEM, two electron microprobes (JXA-8200 and JXA-8900), and one TEM (JEM-3010). The JSM-6610LV is the first JEOL instrument at McCrone devoted specifically to educating students at Hooke College of Applied Sciences; it provides for fast characterization and high resolution imaging of a wide variety of samples.

Dr. Elizabeth Wright
Emory University
Website: electronmicroscopy.emory.edu/People.html

Dr. Elizabeth R. Wright is Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics, Emory University School of Medicine. She is the Director of Robert P. Apkarian Integrated Electron Microscopy Core (RPAIEMC) at Emory University. She is also a Georgia Research Alliance Distinguished Investigator Director.

Dr. Wright collected the TEM data shown on bacterial samples using phase plates specifically designed for the JEOL TEM by Prof. Kuniaki Nagayama’s lab at the Okazaki Institute for Integrative Bioscience in Japan, the lab that developed the technology. She also collected data in the lab of Dr. Wah Chiu at the National Center for Macromolecular Imaging at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, a center for excellence in cryo-electron microscopy.

Emory University studies a broad range of biological and soft materials samples such as: infectious viruses; pathogenic and nonpathogenic bacteria; mammalian tissues; self-assembled peptide matrices; and nanoprobes.

For these applications, the JEOL model JEM-2200FS TEM with its in-column energy filter and thin film/electro-static phase plate technology is the showpiece of the expanded EM laboratory.

A JEOL model JEM-1400 is dedicated primarily to conventional EM of sectioned and negatively stained materials. It will also allow users to perform basic tomography on many sample types.

Dr. Moon Kim, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
University of Texas, Dallas
Website: www.utdallas.edu/~mjk034000/

Dr. Moon Kim is the Director of the Nano and Beyond Microscopy Lab, with a staff of 14 members and a research focus that includes nano-electronic materials, nano-scale strains, and solar cells using TEM. Dr. Kim’s lab uses two JEOL JEM-2100F field emission TEMs and has selected a JEOL ARM200F atomic resolution microscope for advanced high resolution TEM imaging and characterization.

The University of Texas in Dallas is a hub for two semiconductor research consortiums, infusing the area with new business opportunities: The Texas Fusion (Future Semiconductor Commercialization) consortium, financed by the South Korean government and the Texas Emerging Technology Fund, and the Silicon Wafer Engineering and Defect Science Industry/University Cooperative Research Center (SiWEDS IU/CRC), an independent center supported by the University and corporate members. UTD is also a part of the Southwest Academy of Nanoelectronics (SWAN), a nationally funded research center.

Dr. Carlos Cabrera, Professor, Department of Chemistry
University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus
Website: graduados.uprrp.edu/cnquimica/program/faculty/cabrera/cabrera.htm

Dr. Carlos Cabrera’s research focuses on nanomaterials for regenerative fuel cells and lithium batteries; nanostructured surfaces; sensors and biosensors. As a nanotechnologist affiliated with the Institute for Functional Nanomaterials (IFN) in Puerto Rico, Cabrera is developing catalytic nanomaterials used in fuel cell testbeds and prototypes that will be further evaluated at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio.

His lab uses a JEOL JSM-7500F field emission SEM, a JEOL FIB, and the JEOL JSM-2100F and JSM-2200FS field emission TEMs.