Vitrobot™ Mark IV

Advantages and Capabilities

• Fully automated, reproducible vitrification of suspensions 
• High vitrification quality through controlled environment
• High sample throughput
• Easy and flexible instrument control
• Semi-automated grid transfer

Applications with Vitrobot Mark IV
The new Vitrobot Mark IV is a state-of-the-art specimen preparation unit that offers great value to the demanding scientific areas of cell biology and molecular imaging as well as being very suitable for food, industrial, pharmaceutical and nanotechnological applications – where the true colloidal structure needs to be viewed. The following illustrations show some applications examples of suspensions that can and have been vitrified with the Vitrobot:

	3D model of Cowpea Mosaic Virus (CPMV) visualized by single particle reconstruction. The radial color distribution represents the topology of the viral capsid.
	Cryo-Tomogram of Vitrobot frozen liposomes containing the anti-cancer drug Doxil (Nature Medicine, 2003) Sample courtesy of Dr. P. Frederik and Mr. P. Bomans, University of Maastricht, The Netherlands
	Cryo-TEM can be used to validate the various production phases of Personal Care products as in this image of Vitrobot frozen shampoo/conditioner. Image shows the homogeneous dispersion of liposome particles.
	3D cryo tomographic reconstruction of vesicles conceded with cadherin arrays. Sample courtesy of: Dr. O. Lambert IECB, University of Bordeaux, France

Vitrification as Easy as 1, 2, 3
With the Vitrobot Mark IV, all essential vitrification parameters, such as temperature, the number of blottings, blotting pressure, and drain time can be programmed for each individual application and set for automatic retrieval. In fact, once the proper specimen-specific freezing parameters are set, the plunge-freezing session can be performed almost fully automatically and reproducibly. Additionally, the liquid coolant container—with anti-contamination ring—minimizes the contamination risk during the grid transfer while the optimally isolated container ensures better temperature conditions and a lower consumption rate of the liquid coolant. Finally, the grid transfer from the vitrification medium toward the grid storage box has been largely automated in order to further facilitate the sample throughput and vitrification quality.

Vitrobot History
The primary idea for an automated plunge-freezing device for aqueous suspensions came from Dr. Peter Frederik and Mr. Paul Bomans of the University of Maastricht. Together with IDEE/Maastricht Instruments, they worked almost six years to develop and build the Vitrobot.

On May 8, 2002, FEI Company signed a contract with the University of Maastricht and IDEE/Maastricht Instruments, giving FEI the exclusive rights to sell the Vitrobot worldwide as an official FEI product.

AIM Company BV, in Brunssum, The Netherlands is the third partner in the Vitrobot conglomerate that is responsible for the assembly and production of the instrument.