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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2019 Mar 1.
Published in final edited form as: Curr Opin Colloid Interface Sci. 2017 Dec 22;34:1–8. doi: 10.1016/j.cocis.2017.12.009

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Cartoon showing the standard picture that is envisioned in order to explain why embedding macromolecular complexes within a thin film of vitrified buffer should preserve the structure in a near-native state. Macromolecular particles are randomly distributed in the sample when on a holey support film, just as they were in the test tube. When everything above the dotted line is blotted away, a thin film remains in the hole. This thin film is then vitrified by plunging into cryogen, leaving the particles embedded in amorphous ice.