冷冻电镜是解析生物超微结构的关键技术,高质量样品制备,尤其是针对厚样品的冷冻减薄至关重要。传统冷冻减薄技术如低温超薄切片等,存在样品压缩伪影、操作复杂、效率低下且定位精度不足等问题,制约了原位结构生物学研究。随着对高保真、高精度原位观测需求的增长,冷冻光电关联成像技术成为核心发展方向。国科科仪(北京)高端科学仪器技术创新研究院联合中国科学院生物物理研究所团队成功转化的创新成果——荧光导航冷冻聚焦离子束加工系统,实现了创新的“三束共焦”,集成倒置荧光成像系统,通过监测目标分子真实荧光信号,实现“边看边切”,解决传统“盲切”难题。其定位精度优于200纳米,提升对亚细胞结构的靶向减薄能力,同时避免了样品转移带来的冰污染风险,并且可将单个样品制样时间大幅缩短至约45分钟,为精准解析细胞器尺度原位三维结构提供了强有力的自主化工具支撑。
Cryo-electron microscopy is a pivotal technique for resolving biological ultrastructure, where high-quality
sample preparation, particularly cryo-thinning for thick samples, is essential. Traditional cryo-thinning techniques,
such as cryo-ultramicrotomy, face challenges including sample compression artifacts, operational complexity, low
efficiency, and insufficient positioning accuracy, which constrain in situ structural biology research. Driven by the
increasing demand for high-fidelity, high-precision in situ observation, correlative light and electron microscopy has
become the core development direction. The Chinese Academy of Sciences Scientific Instruments High-End Instrument
Research Institute(Beijing) and the Institute of Biophysics,Chinese Academy of Sciences team have successfully
commercialized an innovative achievement—the ELI-Triscope System. This system realizes groundbreaking “three
beam co-focusing,” integrating an inverted fluorescence imaging system. By monitoring the actual fluorescence
signals of target molecules, it achieves “cutting while seeing,” resolving the traditional “blind cutting” dilemma.
With positioning accuracy better than 200 nanometers, it enhances the capability for targeted thinning of subcellular
structures. Simultaneously, by eliminating ice contamination risks associated with sample transfer, it drastically
reduces sample preparation time to approximately 45 minutes per sample. This provides robust support from a
domestically developed tool for the precise analysis of organelle-scale in situ three-dimensional structures.