DeCEMIS

In the DeCEMIS consortium, IMASENIC is developing high-speed, wafer-scale custom CMOS image sensors, together with its readout electronics.

The objective of the DeCEMIS consortium is to bring to full technical maturity and commercial readiness the world’s first low energy detection system optimized for Cryo Electron Microscopy (CryoEM). CryoEM is an emerging and key enabling technology for reliable and cost-effective structural molecular analysis.

The DeCEMIS FTI project will give more users world-wide access to CryoEM, leading to the development of new drugs and vaccines in Life Sciences and next generation of solar cells, batteries and catalysts in Material Sciences.

CryoEM is becoming the gold standard for molecular structural analysis. Compared to alternative existing structural methods (e.g. X-ray crystallography or Nuclear Magnetic Resonance), CryoEM offers higher analysis flexibility and accuracy, particularly for heterogenous and radiation sensitive samples such as proteins and polymers. Among other achievements, CryoEM recently determined the first ever molecular structure of the COVID19 spike protein, providing key information for development of vaccines.

Today, high-quality CryoEM structures are most commonly obtained using high energy, 300 keV microscopes, which due to their complexity and cost are accessible to only a limited number of research laboratories worldwide.
Our innovative, direct detection Swift camera, based around a high-speed, wafer-scale CMOS image sensor, will enable high-quality molecular structure determination using less expensive 100keV CryoEM microscopes at a competitive price-to-performance ratio. By maturing our prototype for commercialization, the DeCEMIS project will pave the way for a new series of more affordable 100 keV Transmission Electron Microscopes with accessible, high-quality detection, aimed at making cryoEM available to more scientists.
Commercialisation of the Swift direct detection camera will accelerate democratization of CryoEM for more applications while realizing large savings potential for CryoEM users.