Core facilities Uni Heidelberg EMCF

The EMCF offers expert electron microscopy imaging to help researchers across Heidelberg study specimens at the sub-cellular level. The EMCF provides electron microscopy services, including specimen preparation, imaging with scanning and transmission electron microscopes, and 3D reconstruction. We offer techniques for imaging surface structures, intracellular details, and protein complexes. Depending on project needs, experiments can be fully performed by EMCF staff or carried out independently by researchers with training and hands-on guidance from our experts, using our equipment to address a wide range of biological questions.

To image samples using electron microscopy, specimens must be prepared to withstand vacuum conditions and provide contrast in an electron beam. These preparations can be performed by EMCF personnel, or users can be trained to work independently with our equipment. The facility offers several electron microscopes for different applications. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is used to image surface structures of cells, tissues, and whole organisms at millimeter scale. For studying intracellular structures, samples are resin embedded and sectioned into ultrathin slices (70–200 nm) and examined using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), allowing visualization of structures ranging from vacuoles to ribosomes. A high-voltage (200 kV) TEM enables tilt-series imaging and 3D reconstruction of fine structures within sections. Larger volumes can be studied using serial sections with TEM or SEM array tomography. Negative-stain TEM is used to analyze extracted protein complexes. Overall, we provide EM techniques spanning tissue surfaces to protein-level structures.