120kV High-Throughput Transmission Electron Microscope for biological samples

• Subject Area: Neurosciences
• Term: Funded in 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 574277487

Volume electron microscopy (vEM) enables the synapse-level reconstruction of neuronal circuits in nervous tissue or across entire organisms. This connectomics approach requires stable automated imaging of large numbers of sections to acquire uninterrupted volumetric information at nanometer resolution. We are planning to establish a high-throughput transmission electron microscopy (TEM) platform for vEM and synaptic connectomics at the Centre of Organismal Studies (COS) at Heidelberg University. The platform will enable the automatic high-throughput imaging of ribbons of ultrathin serial sections of biological samples mounted on specially designed slotted stick-grids. Our aim is to reconstruct circuits from a diverse range of biological samples, including entire marine larvae, fish retina, and neuronal nets on 3D-printed scaffolds. We will provide access and training to vEM technology to researchers working on biological samples at the Innovation Campus Health & Life Sciences Heidelberg-Mannheim and beyond through the University’s Electron Microscopy Core Facility (EMCF), whose staff has largely contributed to developing the underlying workflow for loss-less serial sectioning and imaging. The step-change in vEM capacity provided by a high-throughput TEM platform would strengthen the position of Heidelberg University in neuroscience, electron microscopy and organismal biology. The establishment and use of such a capacity is a key element of the research strategy of the Centre for Organismal Studies and the EMCF at Heidelberg University.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: 120kV Hochdurchsatz-Transmissionselektronenmikroskop für biologische Proben
• Instrumentation Group: 5130 Sonstige spezielle Elektronenmikroskope
• Applicant Institution: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
• Leader: Professor Dr. Gáspár Jékely