TEM

Sample Preparation

• Thaw 400 uL of 2% Uranyl-formate (aliqouted in brown tube), then add 8.0 ul of 1M NaOH to the wall of tube and immediately vortex.

Centrifuge for 5 min at 16000 rcf, when use, take supernatant to avoid any precipitant.

Prepare grids

• Put grids on parafilm wrapped glass-slides

Glow-discharge them for 30sec with Plasma Cleaner (turn on the vacuum and control the air pressure to be around 500 mTorr, turn on plasma medium for 30 sec, Switch off the plasma, and vacuum)

Staining

1. Secure a piece of parafilm with drops of water on the bench
2. Prepare a folded filter paper in front
3. Make 50 ul stain-drops and MQ-H2O-drops on the parafilm
4. Hold each grid with the special-tweezer
5. Pipette 3.5 μl of sample on the grid. Incubate 20 sec then blot off with filter-paper
6. Dip the grid into the MQ-H2O-drops. Incubate 3 sec then blot off with filter-paper
7. Dip the grid into the stain-drop. Incubate 20 sec then blot off with filter-paper
8. Air dry the grids on the tweezers for 1 hour