One of the major problems when performing cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) is specimen movement from beam irradiation during imaging, resulting in blurred, low resolution images. One cause of excessive specimen drift is the use of carbon foils on metal grids, which can move up to 400Å perpendicular to the beam. The Quantifoil® HexAuFoil® Grids were specifically designed for cryo-EM to reduce this radiation-induced motion down to <1 Å, as they consist of a holey gold foil on a hexagonal gold 400 mesh grid.
The HexAuFoil® Grids were designed by Drs. Katerina Naydenova and Christopher J. Russo at the Medical Research Council’s Laboratory of Molecular Biology and produced by Quantifoil® Micro Tools.
Using a novel production process, HexAuFoil® Grids offer optimised reconstructions and higher-throughput data collection for drug discovery.
- Unprecedented consistency in grid specification, leads to improved data collection and simplified data processing pathways
- Facilitates precise foil-tracking, lowering cryostage precision and stability requirements
- Increased automated throughput without loss of data quality due to maximal hole density design
- Leading to data collection times roughly twice as fast as UltrAuFoil®
Advantages of HexAuFoil®:
- The gold foil on a gold grid prevents the foil from changing shape when the sample is cooled during preparation
- Electron beam-induced particle movement <1 Å
- Chemically inert and biocompatible
- Less fragile than carbon foils, highly conductive, and non-oxidizing
- The grids have no expiration date, but are recommended to be used within two years
- The foil is ready to use when delivered, but can be made more hydrophilic using the PELCO easiGlow™ Glow Discharge Cleaning System
- A continuous film of carbon can be added using a standard float transfer method
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Improved fiducial marks for aid in orientation, alignment and flux measurements.
- There are 2 fiducial marks (blue boxes) on the rim of the grid which are visible by the naked eye (differ slightly from those illustrated here)
- 6 additional fiducials (pink boxes) on hexagonal mesh to aid with orientation
- The largest fiducial (green box) is free of foil to facilitate microscope alignments
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Questions and Customer Support:
If there are any questions, please contact Ted Pella, Inc. and ask for a technical product specialist.
| Prod #
| Description
| Unit
| Price
| Order / Quote
|
| For Sale in U.S.A. Only
|
| 690-400-AU
| HexAuFoil®, Hexagonal Array of 0.3µm Diameter Holes - 0.3µm Separation, mounted on a 400 mesh Au grid, package of 10 grids
| pkg/10
| $544.50
|
|
| 690-400-AU-50
| HexAuFoil®, Hexagonal Array of 0.3µm Diameter Holes - 0.3µm Separation, mounted on a 400 mesh Au grid, package of 50 grids
| pkg/50
| 2640.00
|
|
*References:
Naydenova, Katerina, and Christopher J. Russo. "Integrated wafer-scale manufacturing of electron cryomicroscopy specimen supports." Ultramicroscopy 232 (2022): 113396.
Naydenova, Katerina, Peipei Jia, and Christopher J. Russo. "Cryo-EM with sub–1 Å specimen movement." Science 370.6513 (2020): 223-226.
Naydenova, Katerina, et al. "Structure of the SARS-CoV-2 RNA-dependent RNA polymerase in the presence of favipiravir-RTP." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 118.7 (2021): e2021946118.
Gardiner, Alastair T., et al. "The 2.4 Å cryo-EM structure of a heptameric light-harvesting 2 complex reveals two carotenoid energy transfer pathways." Science Advances 7.7 (2021): eabe4650.
Qian, Pu, et al. "2.4-Å structure of the double-ring Gemmatimonas phototrophica photosystem." Science Advances 8.7 (2022): eabk3139