1. Introduction.

The International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory in Braga, Portugal, is looking to acquire auxiliary equipment to upgrade the Titan 80-200 kV electron microscope for Cryo-Microscopy.

2. Technical Requirements of the package.

Cryo-transfer holder compatible with Titan 80 – 300 enabling to load frozen suspensions into the TEM holder and transfer frost-free at temperatures below -170 °C. It must be completed with:

— Workstation to keep the holder secure during cool-down, sample loading and transfer of the holder to the TEM.

— Tools for the frost-free transfer of up to four grids.

— Controller to maintain and monitor low temperature performance of the holder.

— The holder should enable large tilting of the specimen for collecting tomography data sets.

Device to pump up the cryo holders with diaphragm pump and molecular drag pump technologies to produce a clean, dry vacuum in the low 10-6 Torr range.

Software to be installed in order to facilitate Low-Dose specifically intended for applications where the specimen is liable to damage by the electron beam and hence should minimize the electron dose needed for the total sequence from searching for specimen areas, through focusing, to the final exposure.

A fully PC-controlled device for vitrification of aqueous samples with minimal training and ease of use to produce consistently excellent specimens for cryo-electron microscopy.

Along with the above auxiliary equipment an option of On-site Training/Support tailored to the specific requirements of the customer should be included.