Know-how, training and instrumentation for a wide variety of preparation techniques for visualisation of ultrastructure in tissues or cells and of purified biomolecules by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) are being provided by the Electron Microscopy Facility. Techniques routinely used by both IMP and IMBA researchers are chemical and physical fixation, resin embedding in epoxy- and acrylic resins, freeze substitution, ultrathin sectioning of resin embedded or frozen samples, production of support films, negative staining of molecules and organelles, rotary shadowing of sprayed molecules, and others. Depending on future developments and the focus of the demand from the institutes, additional preparative approaches will be introduced.

One cornerstone of the facility is the FEI Morgagni. This robust and easy to use 100 kV TEM equipped with a 11 megapixel CCD camera is tailored for routine needs in the multiuser environment of the facility.

While the Morgagni is an excellent tool for conventional TEM, advanced applications are the domain of the FEI TF30 Polara. This 300 kV TEM, unique in Austria and equipped with the most advanced imaging systems, was funded by a Vienna Spot of Excellence grant and became fully operational at the beginning of 2008. It is primarily being used for cryo-TEM of molecules and cells, and electron tomography.