Please, I would like to know how to prepare the samples for the research and observation of viruses under the electron microscope? What is the best electron microscope to observe the utra-structures? Thanks.
There are several methods to prepare virus for TEM depending on your sample and accessibility to equipments with powerful resolution.
For virus dispersion:
- At low end, you have classical negative staining and classical TEM working at 80-120 kV (room temperature).
- At high end, you have plunge-freezing and cryoTEM working at 300 kV (eg Titan Kryos from Thermo Fisher. I guess it is one of the best electron microscope to observe the ultrastructures... but at a price!)
For virus and cells:
- At low end, you have resin embedding, ultracutting and classical TEM.
- At High end, you have again plunge-freezing and cryoTEM.