(534a) Utilizing Cryoem to Characterize Sustainable Nanomaterial

Over the past ten years, structural biology has benefited from developments in single particle analysis (SPA) cryogenic electron microscopy (cryoEM). Cellular biology is poised to see similar growth from cryogenic electron tomography and cryogenic FIB/SEM (focused ion beam/scanning electron microscopy). These techniques can be applied to biomass-derived nanomaterials in the near-native state to study structural and functional changes in the meso-to-nanoscale. This talk will focus on the benefits and limitations of cryoEM, the difficulties of sample preparation, various equipment needed to move from bulk-sample to electron beam transparent material, semi-automated procedures for data collection and image reconstruction, and the types of materials we can hope to image in EM. Some preliminary data collected at ORNL in the CNMS cryoEM facility will be presented, with the hope that future experiments can further use this technique in the field.