Cryo-EM Sweden National Facility - Information

The Cryo-EM Swedish National Facility offers access to state-of-the-art equipment and expertise in single particle cryo-EM and cryo-tomography (cryo-ET).

The facility has two nodes:

• SciLifeLab campus Solna
• Umeå University

Our Aim

To Provide

1. An internationally competitive infrastructure that is accessible to all academic scientists in Sweden on equal terms.
2. A training environment where researchers can become familiar with cutting-edge methods in cryo-EM.
3. An educational framework of scientific meetings, practical workshops and training courses to enhance the activity of the broad Swedish scientific community.

Our Offerings

SciLifeLab Campus Solna

• Single-Particle Electron Cryo Microscopy (Cryo-EM)
• Electron Cryo Tomography (Cryo-ET)
• Microcrystal Electron Diffraction (Micro-ED)

These services are backed by:

• Talos Arctica
  • For sample optimisation
• Two Titan Krioses
  • For high-resolution data collection

The Stockholm node also offers support for image processing via:

• A bi-weekly drop-in service
• The Peer Review Bioinformatics Support track (WABI)
• The SciLifeLab Cryo-EM Forum where you can ask and answer cryo-EM questions or post interesting news.

Umeå University

• Single-Particle Electron Cryo Microscopy (Cryo-EM)
• Electron Cryo Tomography (Cryo-ET)
• Microcrystal Electron Diffraction (Micro-ED)
• Focused Ion Beam Milling (FIB)

These services are backed by:

• Talos L120C and Glacios 2
  • For sample optimisation
• Titan Krioses
  • For high-resolution data collection
• Scios 2
  • For FIB-Milling cryo-sections and Serial Block Face Imaging (SBF)
• The Umeå node also other TEM and SEM applications and sample preparation support, e.g. high pressure freezing, that can be accessed from http://nmisweden.se/.

How to Access our Facilities

The facility is open to two types of applications, BAG and RA, microscope time is allocated 95% to BAG and 5% to RA applications.

Within the OrderPortal here, applications are also called Orders. To submit an application/order, the principal investigator needs to register an account and log in. The steps to create an account and an application are detailed in the Information tab within the menubar at the top of the page here.

Block Allocation Group (BAG)

BAG applications are evaluated once a year by a national Project Evaluation Committee, based on their scientific merit and technical feasibility. The deadline for BAG applications is September 1st and they run from October 1st, every year.

Rapid Access (RA)

RA applications can be submitted at anytime, they are evaluated for technical feasibility and allocated time in the next quarter.RA applications coming from institutions that have an already running BAG will be asked to join the BAG.