Project description
Pioneering automated sample preparation supports cryo-electron tomography
Significant technological advances over the last decades have opened a new window on intact biological samples, enhancing fundamental understanding and innovation in many fields. Cryo-electron tomography takes sequential pictures (as computerised tomography does of the human body) of a biological sample that has been flash-frozen and preserved in a near-native state. While it provides unprecedented resolution, its sample preparation process is laborious and time-consuming, offering many opportunities for contamination, resulting in low yield. The EU-funded Cryo-SECOM project is supporting technological advancement and commercialisation of an integrated, automated workflow supported by many linked workstations, which will revolutionise cryo-electron tomography and accelerate innovation.
Objective
Cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) is a powerful technique that can faithfully image the native cellular environment at nanometer resolution and enables the acquisition of 3D images of large and pleomorphic objects, such as cells and organelles, with unprecedented resolution. The main problem in the current cryo tomography workflow is the multiple critical steps needed to make the sample suitable for analysis. Current labs use a workflow that involves at least 22 steps, limiting the throughput to the creation of only one sample a day, and with a low yield of the analysis due to contamination of the sample during the transfer steps.
Delmic has completely reimagined the cryo-ET workflow, with the ultimate vision of completely automating sample preparation. Central to this workflow is the cryo-SECOM, which integrates a correlated cryo light microscope with a FIB/SEM system. Additionally, a unified carrier simplifies the placing and carrying samples around and the sample handling and loading/unloading procedures are automatized. We will tie all workstations together, basically creating a ‘cryo-ET sample prep robot’. This fully integrated workflow approach reduces the switching between many workstations, gives higher yield, and offers unprecedented precision in targeting the area of interest.
By simplifying the workflow and reducing the preparation time, cryo-SECOM will allow researchers to innovate faster, decreasing the sample preparation time by 87% and improving the yield by 8-fold. The cost per sample will be greatly reduced by 90%. Cryo-SECOM will be key in unlocking the full potential cryo-ET, opening new horizons in structural biology research that will have broad application to address fundamental questions in microbiology.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences physical sciences optics microscopy electron microscopy
- natural sciences biological sciences molecular biology structural biology
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.2.3. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.3. - PRIORITY 'Societal challenges
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H2020-EU.2.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
2628EB DELFT
Netherlands
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.