John Kendall Spear

US Patent:

20180209880, Jul 26, 2018

Filed:

Mar 26, 2018

Appl. No.:

15/935762

Inventors:

- Tallahassee FL, US
Scott Stagg - Tallahassee FL, US
John Spear - Tallahassee FL, US

International Classification:

G01N 1/31
H01J 37/20
G01N 1/30

Abstract:

A sample preparation device for electron microscopy (EM) that is configured to eliminate user-to-user variations and environment contaminations, which are often present in the conventional method of sample preparation. The device not only provides a means for evenly and reproducibly delivering a fluid or sample to an EM grid, but also provides a means for sealing the EM grid in an air-tight chamber and delivering air-sensitive samples to the EM grid. The platform may comprise readily fabricated glass chips with features integrated to preserve the integrity of the sample grid and to facilitate its extraction. The methods may eliminate the element of user dependent variability and thus improve the throughput, reproducibility and translation of these methods.