[3dem] Imaging hexagonal ice crystals (aka "contamination") deliberately

[Tim Gruene]

The ghost images can be very helpful for visualising individual atoms
and point defects of the crystal:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030439912100156X?via%3Dihub

Cheers,
Tim

On Wed, 29 Sep 2021 13:53:27 +0000
Michael Elbaum <michael.elbaum at weizmann.ac.il> wrote:

> Hi Thom,
> 
> 
> If you don't need the thin vitreous film, you could probably use
> continuous carbon, skip the plunging, cool the grid, and wave your
> hand briskly over the loading station to break the smooth flow of
> nitrogen gas. Humid air would "contaminate" the cold grid and should
> give you a nice distribution of ice crystals. This would be easiest
> in the station of a side-entry holder. I'm not sure how you'd word
> this later in materials and methods, but it ought to work. Take care
> that the imaging might be tricky because Bragg diffraction will
> produce ghost images displaced from the original.
> 
> 
> regards,
> 
> Michael
> 
> ________________________________
> From: 3dem <3dem-bounces at ncmir.ucsd.edu> on behalf of Jan Hübinger
> <jan.huebinger at hotmail.de> Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2021
> 3:55:35 PM To: t.sharp at lumc.nl; 3dem at ncmir.ucsd.edu
> Subject: Re: [3dem] Imaging hexagonal ice crystals (aka
> "contamination") deliberately
> 
> Hi,
> 
> some years ago, we have been imaging ice crystals by cryoEM (no SPA)
> in aqueous media containing different cryoprotective additives after
> plunge freezing and subsequent defined warming steps.
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.sciencedirect.com_science_article_pii_S0006349515010000-3Fvia-253Dihub&d=DwIFAw&c=-35OiAkTchMrZOngvJPOeA&r=L7-zyQ-04fFCMRqzLIOnx7H0exGZHwIQe_wMPuY600I&m=2FYDU976gL-0J11lKp2RBCg6x3L85VV5KJ2Jr-YPI-o&s=KAPI-X3Zeg8koILTxHKXPy9Al4b-SiPF39-YfzUiCpw&e=
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.sciencedirect.com_science_article_pii_S0006349515010000-3Fvia-253Dihub&d=DwMFAw&c=-35OiAkTchMrZOngvJPOeA&r=L7-zyQ-04fFCMRqzLIOnx7H0exGZHwIQe_wMPuY600I&m=fAzVnNGJDWbKgarjeGEb5dGdPIpChcGjogbOpPUHsFk&s=etFK446Ey_ehOhYslRxg7U0lndxJXLfIhkMpzHZhtHk&e=>
> Maybe this helps as a starting point.
> 
> Best regards,
> Jan
> 
> ----
> Dr. Jan Huebinger
> Max-Planck-Institute of Molecular Physiology, Dortmund
> jan.huebinger at mpi-dortmund.mpg.de
> Phone: +49 231-133 2203
> 
> 
> ________________________________
> Von: 3dem <3dem-bounces at ncmir.ucsd.edu> im Auftrag von
> t.sharp at lumc.nl <t.sharp at lumc.nl> Gesendet: Dienstag, 28. September
> 2021 16:32 An: 3dem at ncmir.ucsd.edu <3dem at ncmir.ucsd.edu>
> Betreff: [3dem] Imaging hexagonal ice crystals (aka "contamination")
> deliberately
> 
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> 
> I'd like to image hexagonal ice crystals. I see them occasionally as
> contamination, but not reliably. Now I'd like to vitrify small
> crystals of hexagonal water ice within an amorphous medium and image
> them using cryoEM in an analogous way to how we do SPA of proteins.
> Has anyone done something similar before? My initial ideas were to
> use a different medium (maybe with high salt/glycerol) and then
> vitrify in a poor cryogen (e.g., liquid nitrogen), but I've not found
> any literature yet. Any and all tips welcome!
> 
> 
> Thanks in advance for your suggestions,
> 
> 
> Thom
> 
> 
> Dr. Thomas H. Sharp
> 
> Assistant Professor
> 
> PI: Bio-Nanopatterning
> 
> * 0031-(0)-7152-69499
> 
> * t.sharp at lumc.nl<mailto:t.sharp at lumc.nl>
> 
> Website:
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__ccb.lumc.nl_about-2Dthe-2Dsharp-2Dlab-2D90&d=DwIFAw&c=-35OiAkTchMrZOngvJPOeA&r=L7-zyQ-04fFCMRqzLIOnx7H0exGZHwIQe_wMPuY600I&m=2FYDU976gL-0J11lKp2RBCg6x3L85VV5KJ2Jr-YPI-o&s=M5ixhSw046nsmkiuoy8Q2wztw1lTv7EsHhtqr5g_G8k&e=
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__ccb.lumc.nl_about-2Dthe-2Dsharp-2Dlab-2D90&d=DwMFAw&c=-35OiAkTchMrZOngvJPOeA&r=L7-zyQ-04fFCMRqzLIOnx7H0exGZHwIQe_wMPuY600I&m=-fx6OPS6KXgM3nes4KiZ13FVKhQYEdMmiQedVib53A8&s=88G21hW0ngyUZqBXMsGPsp8GVqRLkOnr0ovncR2Eok8&e=>
> 
> Visiting address: LUMC Bldg. 2, Office R-90-10 (Lab S-01-40),
> Einthovenweg 20, 2333 ZC Leiden



-- 
--
Tim Gruene
Head of the Centre for X-ray Structure Analysis
Faculty of Chemistry
University of Vienna

Phone: +43-1-4277-70202

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