# Acquisition of a Leica ARTOS 3D Ultramicrotome

> **NIH NIH R24** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $139,393

## Abstract

Project Summary:
The Vanderbilt Cell Imaging Shared Resource (CISR) requests funds to purchase a Leica ARTOS
Ultramicrotome for sample preparation for Electron Microscopy (EM). CISR is an institutional, fee-for-
service, advanced microscopy resource. The CISR provides researchers with access to state-of-the-art
imaging equipment which includes a modern FIB-SEM and TEM. CISR provides full-service electron
microscopy sample preparation including sample embedding, thick and thin sectioning, staining, and
image acquisition for either SEM or TEM. These instruments and services are available to support any
investigator with an appointment at Vanderbilt University or Vanderbilt University Medical Center. The
CISR serves over 200 labs per year, and processes approximately 1,000 SEM and TEM samples per year.
Manual serial sectioning for 3-D image reconstruction is currently an error prone, labor and time
intensive process that slows down work flow. The Leica ARTOS will allow automated serial sectioning of
cells and tissues for downstream array tomography and serial tomography transmission electron
microscopy applications. The ARTOS can automatically cut tissue serial sections between 50-100 nm
with an advanced set of features to enable collection of hundreds of sections without error. These
features include automated ribbon sectioning with horizontal movements at a set number of sections, a
specialized cutting knife that can hold and cut sections for an entire coverslip, a mechanism to recover
all these sections without introducing wrinkles, and a vibration and acoustic isolation platform to
facilitate section reproducibility. These serial sections will be used for tissue reconstructions of up to
100,000 µm3 volume at nanometer resolution. This is not currently possible with the equipment at
Vanderbilt.
If funded the Leica ARTOS would be incorporated into the CISR workflow run by our expert CISR staff.
Dr. Evan Krystofiak manages the CISR electron microscopy staff including Maria Vinogradova. Both Evan
and Maria are experts in ultramicrotomy and regularly prepare thin and thick sections on the CISR’s
existing Leica ultramicrotomes, including manually prepared, short serial section ribbons. The requested
Leica ARTOS would be housed in existing CISR space in RR-1207 MCN along with current CISR-EM sample
preparation equipment. In summary, acquisition of the Leica ARTOS will allow for unprecedented
volumetric imaging capabilities of biological samples at scales and spatial resolutions not currently
available to Vanderbilt and will facilitate research on a diverse set of NIH funded research.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10986250
- **Project number:** 1R24OD037694-01
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Evan Krystofiak
- **Activity code:** R24 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $139,393
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-07-01 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10986250

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10986250, Acquisition of a Leica ARTOS 3D Ultramicrotome (1R24OD037694-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10986250. Licensed CC0.

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