Voltage-Gating Device (VGD) for Cryogenic Electron Microscopy (Cryo-EM)

Web Published:
4/17/2020
Description:

Princeton Docket# 19-3561-1

 

 

Electric fields are widely used to switch nanoelectronics devices and can be precisely controlled by a variety of power sources. There are extensive studies of how electric gating affects materials’ physical properties, but it is still unclear, in most cases, how electric fields/currents change the structures or conformations of field-sensitive soft materials, liquid-solid interfaces, and biological molecules.

 

Researchers at Princeton University have designed a novel device that can provide external stimuli, such as electric signals, to cryo-EM specimens that change conformations in response to these external stimuli. The device consists of an assembly of two electrodes isolated from one another and from the frame of the sample preparation device by two 3D printed plates. The assembly mounting structure acts as the isolation for the electrodes allowing an electric field to generate across the sample preparation pathway.

 

Conventional cryo-EM sample preparation approaches only provide fast freezing of samples. Our device expands the capability of cryo-EM by providing a voltage up to 500 V during the plunge-freeze process of cryo-EM sample preparation, thereby collectively allowing to induce and preserve conformational changes in the sample. The device has been tested and verified by connecting to the Vitrobot. The process is stable and safe, and does not interrupt the plunge-freezing process.

 

The device has immediate application in structural biology by providing voltage potentials to voltage-gated membrane proteins. For example, it can be used to study the conformational changes of voltage-gated membrane proteins in response to external electric fields. The device also has potential applications in materials science to study field-sensitive materials such as liquid crystals, nanoparticles, ferroelectric materials, etc.

 

Applications:

•       Enables the study of conformational changes in biomolecules in response to external electrical stimuli

•       Allows for an in situ study of field-sensitive nano-electric and energy materials

 

Advantages:

•       Unobtrusive

•       Can be easily adapted to the geometry of and appended to the equipment necessary

•       Process is stable and safe, and does not interrupt the plunge-freeze process

 

Patent Information:
For Information, Contact:
Chris Wright
Licensing Associate
Princeton University
609-258-6762
cw20@princeton.edu
Inventors:
Nan Yao
Kevin Lamb
Nieng Yan
Yimo Han
Keywords: