The Transmission Electron Microscopy facility located on the campus ‘Ledeganck’ of the UGent is providing expertise in the use and application of transmission electron microscopy to serve biological or biomedical sciences. The facility was established in 2003 and uses the equipment of the Department of Biology.

Equipment:

Possible applications:

IEM (Immuno-gold Electron Microscopy)

Chemical fix. (aldehydes)
Immunolocalization using PA:g or conjugates as gold-markers
Advantages : less limited in size
Disadvantages : morphol. artefacts and less sensitive

HPF = high pressure freezing ( EM-Pact )
Immunolocalization using PA:g or conjugates as gold-markers.
Advantages : better structural preservation and retains antigenicity
Disadvantages : limited in size

(A) IEM on mouse heart intercalated disc: Single labeling: αT-catenin + RARa + PA:g10 (Goossens et al.,JCS 2007)
(B) IEM serpine in Arabidopsis thaliana roottip (Vercammen et al.,JMB 2006)
(C) IEM callose in Arabidopsis mutant pollen (Van Damme et al., The Plant Cell 2007)

IGSS (Immuno Gold Silver Staining)

(A) IEM on mouse heart intercalated disc; Single labeling: αT-catenin + RARa + PA:g5 + IGSS

(B) IEM on mouse heart intercalated disc; Sequential colocalization: αT-catenin + RARa + PA:g10nm+ IGSS + Plakoph. + RAMs + PA:g10nm

Morphological analysis

Chemical fix. (aldehydes + OsO4)
Advantages : less limited in size
Disadvantages : morphol. artefacts and less sensitive

HPF = high-pressure freezing (EM-Pact)
Advantages : better structural preservation and an ”in vivo” impression                      
Disadvantages : limited in size

Ultrastructural analysis of the SrSymRK knockdown phenotype (Capoen et al., PNAS 2005)

Symbiotic interaction between leguminous plant and N2 -fixing bacteria  (rhizobia)

CCR-downregulated poplar Cell wall analysis (F=fiber, V=vessel)

For all information, contact Tom Beeckman ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) or Riet Derycke ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )

Publications since 2003: download list