Journal of Microscopy: Issue on Women in Microscopy
Lacey was asked to participate in a themed issue on pioneering women in microscopy. In consultation with Sam Livingston, we decided to share our technical adventures of preparing cannabis samples for transmission electron microscopy (TEM).
Our understanding of how cannabis plants produce their valuable metabolites is based on pioneering electron microscopy work by Paul Mahlberg and Eun-Soo Kim. They used classical chemical fixation to prepare their samples for transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In the Samuels lab, we also use high pressure freezing to prepare samples for TEM, and adapting these sticky cannabis flowers to this cryo-fixation protocol was not easy! Teagen Quilichini (post-doc) and Eva Chou (Directed Study) did extensive trouble shooting to find a way to preserve the cannabis, then Sam Livingston (PhD) expanded and built on their work.
This resulted in amazing new views of how cannabis cells can produce compounds such as THC or CBD (see Sam's Current Biology paper).
Sam's paper got picked up by these media and cannabis culture websites:
4. The Ubyssey