Delmic – Cryo-SECOM Workflow

Since it became a Nobel prize-winning technique in 2017, cryo-electron microscopy (cyro-EM) has intensified its relevance, demonstrating that it represents an excellent way to observe biomolecules at sub-nanometer resolution.

However, when studying samples with cyro-electron microscopy, researchers and scientists face various challenges: equipment is not easy to use, the preparation process takes between 4 and 8 hours, the operator needs a PhD level to guarantee the right performance… These time costs and technical issues make this technology difficult to implement.

To ease this problem, Delmic has developed Cyro-SECOM, a new fully integrated workflow that makes the sample preparation process faster, cheaper and more reliable. Thanks to its automation, Delmic’s system reduces the switching between workstations and, ultimately, researchers can innovate more quickly, decreasing the sample preparation time by 87% and costs by 90%.

Delmic has successfully obtained the European Commission’s support. The initial SME Instrument was addressed for developmental activities and, later, they received EIC equity funds for its commercialisation.