[3dem] [ext] Contaminated Quantifoil® R 1.2/1.3 + 2 nm carbon grids

[Schacherl, Magdalena]

Dear Jean-Marc,

we clean our holey carbon grids for in situ structural biology by rinsing them in chloroform and acetone, although this is before we sputter coat them with additional Carbon using our Leica ACE600.

You could try it out:
Buy ultra-pure chloroform and acetone (HPLC grade)
Use clean glass beakers (20 – 50 ml ones).
Under a clean fume hood, put 10-20 ml of chloroform and acetone in an own beaker and very gently use inverted tweezers to hold the grids.
Immerse each grid for 10 sec into chloroform, then 10 sec in acetone. Carefully move around the grids without touching the sides of the beakers.
Repeat 4-5 times going back and forth between the two liquids. Let the grids dry just lying under the food hood for 1-2 min. Put the grids on a filter paper or on parafilm.

Glow discharge and use for SPA.

We usually do it right before we use the grids, so that they do not contaminate further. Maybe you could try it out with two grids to access if the 2 nm C stays intact.

Good luck and best wishes,
Magdalena

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Magdalena Schacherl, PhD
Group Leader Structural Enzymology
Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Institute of Medical Physics and Biophysics  | Charitéplatz 1 | 10117 Berlin
Internal address: Virchowweg 6
Room 03.322, level 3
T: +49 30 450 524196 | F: +49 30 450 524952
magdalena.schacherl at charite.de<mailto:magdalena.schacherl at charite.de>

Website Schacherl lab<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://biophysik.charite.de/en/research/structural_enzymology/__;!!Mih3wA!BvMOQ8ysagg-ohY2F1n9SPjfAIQeT90FGiqZAzuuE8RXsK-8zoj7sYBVMRu285aMTRpUR5Cby2Ai40mYFLYAo-Tn7pAQpzap$ >







Von: 3dem <3dem-bounces at ncmir.ucsd.edu> im Auftrag von "jean-marc.jeckelmann at unibe.ch" <jean-marc.jeckelmann at unibe.ch>
Datum: Freitag, 5. Juli 2024 um 23:32
An: "3dem at ncmir.ucsd.edu" <3dem at ncmir.ucsd.edu>
Betreff: [ext] [3dem] Contaminated Quantifoil® R 1.2/1.3 + 2 nm carbon grids

Dear all,
we have found black-spot-contaminations on several Quantifoil® R 1.2/1.3 + 2 nm carbon grids. The gris originate from four different grid boxes containing each 100 grids per box (approximate value ~3000 CHF; most severe case see attachment).
Within the past year we tried several times to reach to Quantifoil and asked for guidance. Unfortunately, Quantifoil never provided us with an answer.
Does anybody know how to somehow “clean" these 2 nm carbon layer containing grids ?
Thanks for your input,
Jean-Marc


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____________________________
Jean-Marc Jeckelmann, PhD
Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine
University of Bern
Bühlstrasse 28
CH-3012 Bern
+41 31 684 3 470
jean-marc.jeckelmann at unibe.ch<mailto:jean-marc.jeckelmann at unibe.ch>

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