Zeiss recently unveiled what it says is the world’s fastest scanning electron microscope (SEM), offering the highest speed suitable for brain research. The MultiSEM 505 features 61 beams working in parallel, and a capture speed of 1220 megapixels per second at a pixel size of 4 nm. This high acquisition speed is used for imaging neural tissue in brain research where it is now possible to observe much bigger samples than before. The SEM is designed for continual operation and fitted with the intuitive ZEN Software.
Conventional SEMs use a single electron beam, which is guided over the sample surface and by acquiring pixel by pixel an image of the sample is formed. This instrument uses 61 beams simultaneously, making it possible to acquire 61 images in parallel. Thus large areas can now be imaged very quickly and acquisition times are reduced from years to weeks.
The first users are the laboratories of Jeffrey Lichtman, HarvardUniversityin Cambridge, USA, and Winfried Denk, Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried, Germany. Both are using microscopy to investigate structure and function of the brain. Their results will help to better understand the causes of illnesses such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and develop corresponding treatments. Zeiss
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