Museum Re-Opening

The David J. Sencer CDC Museum will re-open with new visitation protocols on January 2^nd, 2026. All visitors must make advanced reservations. Walk-in visits are no longer permitted.

The following information is required while making reservations:

Visitors to provide first, middle, and last name

Visitors 18 and over will also need to submit:

Date of birth
Citizenship (Select U.S. or non-U.S. citizen)
Government-issued valid (not expired) REAL ID number or passport number

Bring confirmation email(s) for museum visit.

Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM)

On display is a powerful microscope: the electron microscope. This microscope, the TEM 410 Philips model, was made in the Netherlands and used in CDC labs from 1985-2005. This transmission electron microscope was purchased by CDC in 1985 to study the AIDS virus and over the next 20 years, scientists used it repeatedly in the rapid identification of emerging pathogens including hantavirus, Nipah virus, and SARS coronavirus.

Enrichment Modules

Take a closer look:

Find high-resolution, public domain images of viruses/bacteria in CDC’s Public Health Image Library, including transmission electron microscope images of coronaviruses and the hepatitis A virus.
View transmission electron microscope micrographs of rotavirus particles, the virus that causes rabies, variola virus particles, and poxvirus particles. Then, take a look at what a transmission electron microscope looks like from the other side of the lens: in the 1960s and present day.
Learn how to collect and prepare specimens for electron microscopy.

From the source:

Take a close look at how electron microscopy was used to confirm poxvirus infections during the smallpox eradication campaign.
View a historic image of an electron microscope in use during 1988 laboratory studies of AIDS and a transmission electron microscopeimage of HIV from Global Health Chronicles, A CDC Museum/Emory University collaboration.

Then and now:

Learn how electron microscopy has aided CDC scientists in identifying the causative agents during critical infectious disease outbreaks.
Read how transmission electron microscopy was used to understand molecular mechanisms of the severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS coronavirus outbreak in 2002.

Give it a try:

Want to try your hand at microscopy? Check out this CDC microscopy training course.