Cryofixation has proven to be the gold standard for efficient preservation of native cell ultrastructure compared to chemical fixation, but this approach is not widely used in fluorescence microscopy owing to implementation challenges.

The Guichard-Hamel‘s group developed Cryo-ExM, a method that preserves native cellular organization by coupling cryofixation with expansion microscopy. This method bypasses artifacts associated with chemical fixation and its simplicity will contribute to its widespread use in super-resolution microscopy.

The article was published in Nature Methods on Jan. 13, 2022.