How innovations in methodology offer new prospects for volume electron microscopy

How innovations in methodology offer new prospects for volume electron microscopy

Kievits, A.J. (TU Delft ImPhys/Microscopy Instrumentation & Techniques)
Lane, R. (TU Delft ImPhys/Microscopy Instrumentation & Techniques)
Carroll, E.C.M. (TU Delft ImPhys/Microscopy Instrumentation & Techniques)
Hoogenboom, J.P. (TU Delft ImPhys/Microscopy Instrumentation & Techniques)

2022

Detailed knowledge of biological structure has been key in understanding biology at several levels of organisation, from organs to cells and proteins. Volume electron microscopy (volume EM) provides high resolution 3D structural information about tissues on the nanometre scale. However, the throughput rate of conventional electron microscopes has limited the volume size and number of samples that can be imaged. Recent improvements in methodology are currently driving a revolution in volume EM, making possible the structural imaging of whole organs and small organisms. In turn, these recent developments in image acquisition have created or stressed bottlenecks in other parts of the pipeline, like sample preparation, image analysis and data management. While the progress in image analysis is stunning due to the advent of automatic segmentation and server-based annotation tools, several challenges remain. Here we discuss recent trends in volume EM, emerging methods for increasing throughput and implications for sample preparation, image analysis and data management.

data management
image analysis
image processing
MB-SEM
methodology development
volume EM

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:8f08811e-9e1c-4052-854e-6f2592e74097

https://doi.org/10.1111/jmi.13134

0022-2720

Journal of Microscopy, 287 (3), 114-137

Institutional Repository

review

© 2022 A.J. Kievits, R. Lane, E.C.M. Carroll, J.P. Hoogenboom