[3dem] Gatan Elsa holder problems

[Dokland, Terje]

Has anybody else had any experience with the Gatan Elsa cryo-holder? We received ours in March and have not been able to use it. It originally arrived with a defective clip spring that was unable to hold the clip ring. It was sent back for repair,but  returned with the same problem. It was sent back again, and upon return it worked for a total of two transfers before the clip spring failed AGAIN. (This is the “standard” tip with the "old fashioned” ring that screws into the tool that’s been used since the original Gatan holders.)

Perhaps even more disturbingly, for the two grids that we managed to image before the holder failed, there was a considerable amount of vibration in the x direction (perpendicular to the rod) with greatly attenuated Thon rings, even after settling for a long time. We have never had this problem with our 626 holder.

While the extended nitrogen holding time of the Elsa holder would have been advantageous, it seems that this product is so flawed as to be useless. Or have we just been unlucky? Has other people had similar experience? No word from Gatan yet regarding a replacement, but I think we at least will stick with the old 626 holder from now on.

Terje





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Terje Dokland, PhD

Professor

Department of Microbiology

University of Alabama at Birmingham

845 19th St South, BBRB 311

Birmingham, AL 35294

Tel: (205) 996 4502

Fax: (205) 996 2667

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