Applications of mPrep Automated Specimen Processors in Core Biomedical Research Electron Microscopy Labs

Abstract Biological electron microscopy (EM) of specimens prepared using chemical fixation, heavy metal staining, and resin embedding has advanced the biosciences for over half a century. These chemical preparation methods are applied every day to research and clinical transmission EM, the rapidly growing discipline of 3D volume EM, for correlative EM with light and X-ray microscopy, and for freeze-substitution cryogenic preparation EM. While EM imaging and image analysis are becoming increasingly automated, most research labs still perform their specimen preparation manually using commodity labware not designed for EM of biospecimens. This report shows how the purpose-built labware for microscopy, the mPrep™ System and the ASP™ family of automated specimen processors, improves preparation reliability, cuts reagent consumption and user exposure, and reduces specimen preparation time and effort by up to 10-fold. This report examines how the Multiscale Microscopy Core at Oregon Health & Science University, a core lab specializing in cancer and biomedical research, uses the mPrep™ ASP™-2000 automated specimen processor to streamline and speed specimen preparation workflows for volume EM (including serial block face, focused ion beam, and array tomography SEM) and for transmission EM.