Hollow Cone Electron Imaging for Single Particle 3D Reconstruction of Proteins.

The main bottlenecks for high-resolution biological imaging in electron microscopy are radiation sensitivity and low contrast. The phase contrast at low spatial frequencies can be enhanced by using a large defocus but this strongly reduces the resolution. Recently, phase plates have been developed to enhance the contrast at small defocus but electrical charging remains a problem.

Pulsatile drug release from PLGA hollow microspheres by controlling the permeability of their walls with a magnetic field.

Pulsatile release: When a high-frequency magnetic field is applied, heat will be generated by coupling to the iron oxide nanoparticles encapsulated in the shells of PLGA hollow microspheres. As the temperature approaches the T(g) of PLGA, the polymer chains become more mobile, subsequently increasing the free volume of PLGA matrix and significantly enhancing the diffusion of drug molecules.

Self-aligned wet-cell for hydrated microbiology observation in TEM.

This paper describes a Self-Aligned Wet (SAW) cell suitable for direct-cell or bacteria incubation and observation in a wet environment inside a transmission electron microscope. This SAW cell is fabricated by a bulk-micromachining process and composed of two structurally complementary counterparts (an out-frame and an in-frame), where each contain a silicon nitride film based observation window. The in- and out-frames can be self-aligned via a mechanism of surface tension from a bio-sample droplet without the aid of positioning stages.