Unique electron microscope delivered

28 July 2025

With the delivery of the 2.5-ton base section of the new high-performance electron microscope, the construction of a new generation of highly specialized equipment has begun at the new Ernst Ruska Centre (ER-C) building. It lays the foundation for the first of six unique electron microscopes that will be installed at the Ernst Ruska Centre over the next few years.

View of the base section of the new transmission electron microscope upon delivery

Further components are expected tomorrow, Tuesday, to complete the transmission electron microscope. Once fully assembled, it will reach a height of 5.5 meters. “The exceptionally tall microscope and its equipment occupy a good 70 square meters. We will occupy a total of three rooms in the new building with the electron microscope and the associated equipment,” says Dr. Thomas Heidler from the Institute of Structural Biology (ER-C-3), who will be responsible for the technical support of the microscope, which weighs a total of 4.5 tons.

Because the device is so large, it will not have insulating cladding, as is found, for example, on the PICO electron microscope. “We now have to provide the protection that this ‘packaging’ actually provides for the microscopes in the room,” says Heidler, who, like everyone else at the institute, has been involved in the new building and the planned microscope park for ER-C 2.0 since 2019.

Life sciences research

The unique electron microscope will be used for research in the life sciences, particularly in cryo scanning transmission electron microscopy (cryo STEM), which is currently under development. One of its special features is a corrected electron column, which is expected to significantly improve image quality and resolution. Instead of the usual cooling with liquid nitrogen, there is also a cryogenic solid-state battery charged with liquid helium. “This will enable us to reduce molecular movements and minimize the effects of radiation damage on biological samples,” explains Heidler.

The transmission electron microscope is expected to set new standards in the structural analysis of biological samples at the molecular level. The instrument will be available to scientists around the world as part of the ER-C 2.0 project.

Further Information

Announcement

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