Decontamination of digital image sensors and assessment of electron microscope performance in a BSL-3 containment

A unique biological safety level (BSL)-3 cryo-electron microscopy facility with a 200 keV high-end cryo-electron microscope has been commissioned at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) to study the structure of viruses and bacteria classified as select agents. We developed a microscope decontamination protocol based on chlorine dioxide gas with a continuous flow system. In this paper we report on testing digital camera sensors (both CCD and CMOS direct detector) in a BSL-3 environment, and microscope performance after chlorine dioxide (ClO₂) decontamination cycles.