An easy, fast and inexpensive method of preparing a biological specimen for scanning electron microscopy (SEM).

Biological samples usually require cumbersome preparation steps before SEM imaging. Here we propose a simple, fast and inexpensive method to prepare and visualize biological cell culture samples in a few easy steps. We have tested this method with success on several adherent breast cancer and non-adherent leukemia cell lines. This method gives results comparable to other well-established techniques, and it can be convenient in day-to-day biological sample preparation for SEM imaging.•An easy and rapid method to visualize biological specimens under SEM.•Cells are grown on carbon tapes and gold coated.•Air drying without compromising the image quality.