ZEISS Seminars at Neuroscience 2017
ZEISS MultiSEM: The World’s Fastest Scanning Electron Microscope

Studies in Connectomics require the imaging of structures spanning several orders of magnitude in size. While conventional light microscopy is suitable for mapping large areas, it has its limitations in distinguishing smallest features at the subcellular level. Conversely, electron microscopy can resolve nanometer-sized details, but fails to provide the necessary throughput to image relevant volumes in reasonable time frames. Multi-beam scanning electron microscopy can overcome this gap by providing high imaging throughput at nanometer resolution and is therefore the method of choice for obtaining dense reconstructions in Connectomics.

ZEISS MultiSEM employs up to 91 parallel electron beams in a single instrument to increase the field of view while maintaining the high spatial resolution of scanning electron microscopes. In the presentation we will explain the mSEM technology, show the application workflow in Connectomics and discuss challenges in data processing.