Figure 5: Conventional cryo-TEM and cryo-STEM images acquired on the same grid of nucleic acid LNPs on a drug product with 10% sugars. A) Conventional cryo-TEM image. B) Cryo-STEM image showing in addition to lipid bilayer, the phase segregation between nucleic acid (n.a.) and water (w) in background vitreous ice and within LNPs. Arrows point at lipid bilayers of LNP. Images were acquired on a Glacios microscope operated at 200KV using a Falcon 4 camera for the conventional cryo-TEM and a Panther STEM detector for the cryo-STEM image.
Because the size of the samples that cryo-STET can investigate perfectly matches the dimensions of numerous unicellular parasites, this method has the potential to make great progress in the unravelling of the complex parasite structure which could help better understand how these cells infect their hosts.