FEI Talos Arctica - University of Wollongong

Thermo Fisher - FEI Talos Arctica

The FEI Talos Arctica is a 200keV high- performance automated transmission electron microscope designed specifically for cryo-electron microscopy. This system is capable of reaching 2.5 Angstrom resolution. The Falcon 3 direct detection device's counting mode and drift correction produce high signal-to-noise and high-resolution images for tomography and single-particle data. The system is equipped with a Volta phase plate that makes imaging of very small (less than 200kDa) proteins possible. The Arctica is primarily used for medium resolution structures that can then be passed to the Krios for very high-resolution imaging and reconstruction.

The Arctica is available on a recharge basis to all UOW staff as well as external users and industry users.

Thermo Fisher - FEI Talos Arctica

Performance Metrics

In order to validate performance, our instruments are routinely tested to ensure high-resolution instrument performance. The FEI Talos Arctica’s performance has been validated to 2.5 Angstrom resolution using Aldolase as a well studied target structure.

Figure 1: A cross-section of the Apoferritin protein density reconstruction to 3.3 Angstrom resolution. The density has been fit to the atomic model of the structure with extremely good correlation. Sidechains are clearly visible in this structure demonstrating the power and performance of our Arctica system.

Figure 2: Aldolase protein density reconstruction with x-ray crystallography structure fit at 2.5 Angstrom resolution collected on our Falcon3 equipped Arctica system. The density has been fit to the atomic model of the structure with extremely good correlation. The reconstruction was processed using our allocated MASSIVE resources. Sidechains are clearly visible in this structure demonstrating the power and performance of our Arctica system coupled with the HPC capabilities of our MASSIVE partnership.