After aquiring the proper instruments and moving them to our new Consistence lab, it’s great to see them installed and running. Here I start with a beautiful visualisation of houmous microstructure.

Besides being a very tasty plant based spread, originating from the middle east, its microstructure is impressive as well. The method used here is cryo-scanning electron microscopy. The real art is in the sample preparation: cryo-fixation followed by cryoplaning. Cryoplaning is one of the unique expertises of Consistence, which I personally like so much because of the many industrial and biological applications of this method. Contact us at Consistence if you have any question regarding imaging and understanding of anything small (or very small……;)

By the way, ‘cryo’ means ‘very cold’. We use temperatures below -100°C to analyse materials at high vacuum. At such temperatures soft and hydrated materials become so hard and intert that they can be cut and polished + withstand the high vacuum of high resolution electron microscopy.

I will try to provide updates on other methodologies as well, both hi-tech and more down-to-earth imaging methods in the near future, so stay connected!