[3dem] Gatan Elsa holder problems

[Tsybovsky, Yaroslav (NIH/NCI) [C]]

Dear Terje,

We have an identical Elsa. It had the same clip spring problem when it arrived, but the problem was fixed by Gatan under warranty. Since then, we have collected several datasets using this holder on our Talos 200 with a Falcon3. The best ones resulted in reconstructions with a 3.7-3.9 A resolution. We did see strong drift once but I blame it on the fact that the holder had been vented due to a power outage shortly before data collection. We will need to collect more datasets to verify this explanation. As it looks now, this product may have some flaws but it is capable of producing high-quality data.

I hope this helps.
Yaroslav

Yaroslav Tsybovsky, Ph.D. (contractor)
Scientist II
Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research
Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc.
Post Office Box B
Frederick, Maryland 21702
Phone: 301-846-7550
Yaroslav.Tsybovsky at nih.gov



From: Dokland, Terje <dokland at uab.edu>
Sent: Thursday, September 5, 2019 12:28 PM
To: 3DEM mailing list <3dem at ncmir.ucsd.edu>
Subject: [3dem] Gatan Elsa holder problems

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



---
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

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mail.ncmir.ucsd.edu/pipermail/3dem/attachments/20190905/701274a8/attachment-0001.html>