Mitigation of artifacts in imaging biosamples with optical scanning transmission electron microscopy.

Arent J Kievits, B H Peter Duinkerken, Ryan Lane, Ben N G Giepmans, Jacob P Hoogenboom

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Article in Applied microscopy, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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5 · Who and what money

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5 authors.

Arent J KievitsDepartment of Imaging Physics, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands.

B H Peter DuinkerkenDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.

Ryan LaneDepartment of Imaging Physics, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands.

Ben N G GiepmansDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.

Jacob P HoogenboomDepartment of Imaging Physics, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4539-8772

Funding

Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek NWO-585 ENPPS.LIFT.019.030Netherland Electron Microscopy Infrastructure, NWO National Roadmap for Large-Scale Research Infrastructure NWO 184.034.01NL-BioImaging AM NWO 184.036.012ZonMw 91111.006

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Electron microscopy (EM) allows ultrastructural analysis of biological tissues and cells, but images frequently contain artifacts because biological samples have to undergo rigorous preparation to be resistant to vacuum conditions and electron beam exposure. Knowledge about the appearance of image artifacts and how they arise is crucial for their recognition and mitigation and for proper image interpretation. How artifacts appear depends strongly on the electron detection modality and the imaging conditions. Optical scanning transmission EM (OSTEM) is a detection technique compatible with single-beam and multibeam electron microscopes, in which tissue samples are directly deposited on a scintillator for imaging in transmission mode. Here, we identified several types of artifacts that may occur in single-beam and multibeam OSTEM. These artifacts arise or appear as a result of combining established sample preparation protocols with solid scintillator substrates and optical transmission detection. Artifacts can be effectively mitigated or minimized to ultimately enable high quality large-scale 2D and 3D acquisitions.

Indexed as

ArtifactsElectron microscopyLarge-scale electron microscopyOSTEMScintillators

Identifiers

PMID42012743

DOI10.1186/s42649-026-00132-y

PMCPMC13100101

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