Download a PDF of our Quick Start Guide for the Ethane-Temperature Controlled Dewar here.
 
Our Ethane-Temperature Controlled Vitrobot Dewar enables control of the temperature of your liquid ethane for plunge freezing. Furthermore, the control box where the temperature is monitored and controlled also includes a tool warmer pad, with a warming plate and air flow to dry your cryo-tools quicker during vitrification.
 
CryoEM practictioners have always relied on very rough control of the ethane temperature during vitrification. Usually, people wait until there is a bit of ethane ice on the wall of the brass cup, or until the ethane looks milky, to plunge their sample. Though not very repeatable, it often does the job, and the thought was always that colder ethane was better.
 
More recently findings suggest that colder ethane is not always better. Furthermore, with the lack of consistency in cryoEM sample preparation, more control over protocol variables can only help. Our Ethane-Temperature Controlled Dewar has sensors and heaters built into the brass ethane cup such that the temperature of the ethane can be controlled accurately and precisely, providing reliability and consistency in one more variable in your cryoEM sample preparation process. Finally you can accurately control your ethane temperature, especially away from the melting point of the ethane, where you cannot physically tell the temperature of the ethane (with frost or "milkiness").
 
The benefits of our system include:
Accurate control of the ethane temperature through embedded heaters and sensors
A "Snowflake Setting"that will reliably keep the ethane temperature such that there is just a crust of frozen ethane on the cup
High quality, robust foam dewar and cryogenically-compatible plastic basin
Robust construction, whereby the brass cup, plastic basin and foam dewar can be disassembled without any tools for drying
The control provides a bake out cycle to quickly warm up the ethane cup and accelerate drying of the entire dewar assembly
A  high quality, OLED screen with knob for easy system operation
Tool warmer built into the control box for convenient warming and drying of your tools.