Andri Fränkl from Thomas Braun’s laboratory Imaging before shock freezing looks at shock-frozen cells that have been pre- In the Nano-Argovia project FuncEM, researchers are developing pared on a grid for electron microscopy using an extension module to the cryoWriter. The cryoWriter 昀氀ash- the cryoWriter system. freezes tiny quantities of samples — with no loss of material and in a fully automated process — before the samples are examined using cryo-electron microscopy. The planned exten- sion module should enable the researchers to analyze the “liv- “The Nano-Argovia program ing” samples immediately before the freezing process. With the offers companies in help of the optics developed so far, the interdisciplinary team Northwestern Switzerland a has succeeded in creating 3D structures of the samples, which unique opportunity to evaluate provide important information about sensitive parts of the com- the latest technologies with plex protein architecture. The researchers initially focused on experts from the academic the investigation of thin cilia, which also play a crucial role in environment. This is precisely numerous diseases. The upstream light microscopic examina- in the area between fundamen- tion provides relevant information about the functionality of tal research and product the cilia examined. development, where the know- Cooperation with: cryoWrite // Biozentrum, University of how is often not (yet) available Basel // Paul Scherrer Institute in a company. Project description: https://bit.ly/3K62L0A Dr. Patrick Frederix, CEO, cryoWrite SNI Annual Report 2023 41