# Micropatterning on EM grids
Webinar: Micropatterning on EM grids, a strategy for improving cell cryo-ET workflow
Date: October 15, 2019
Speaker: Dr. Leeya Engel, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Chemical, Engineering Stanford University
Watch the replay of our webinar and Q&A with Dr Leeya Engel (Stanford university): “Micropatterning on EM grids: A strategy for improving cell cryo-ET workflow”. Based on the outcomes of her paper (L. Engel et al., JMM, 2019) using PRIMO maskless photopatterning on a Leica DMi8 microscope:
- Reproducible and controlled positioning of cells within the mesh of EM grids
- Increased cryo-FIB and cryo-ET success rates
- Predictive intracellular organization
The speaker presents a method in which the PRIMO maskless protein photopatterning system is used to micropattern extracellular matrix on electron microscopy grids. These micropatterned cell culture substrates can confine cells to specific shapes and locations on electron microscopy grids. By enabling cryo electron tomography of cells under morphological modulation, this technology may open up new possibilities for correlating changes in nanometer-scale organization at cell-cell and cell-ECM contacts to strain energy states and traction stress distribution in the cell.
This is a Nature Research webcast sponsored by Alvéole and presented by Nature Research Custom Media.