Oral Presentation 24th Australian Conference on Microscopy and Microanalysis 2016

It’s cold in Chicago, and we’re exposed to the elements: Cryo X-ray fluorescence and ptychography  (#7)

Chris Jacobsen 1
  1. Argonne Lab/Northwestern U, Lemont, IL, United States

X-ray fluorescence microscopy provides the highest sensitivity for imaging trace metals like zinc, calcium, manganese, and iron in cells, since these metals play a role in normal cell functioning and in diseases.  This can be combined with x-ray ptychography, a coherent diffraction imaging method which is not limited by the spatial resolution of focusing optics, to image the light elements that comprise the main part of cellular ultrastructure.  By working with rapidly cooled samples at liquid nitrogen temperatures, excellent structural and chemical preservation can be obtained along with a high degree of resistance to radiation damage.  This combined approach has been used to image trace metals at 100 nm resolution simultaneously with imaging cellular structure at better than 20 nm resolution.  This has been carried out using the Bionanoprobe, a hard x-ray scanning microscope at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory.