Cryo Electron Microscopy, a powerful technique to study biological systems
Date: Thursday, June 29, 2023
Location: 12-0168 (MIT.nano basement)
Time: 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. ET
Lunch will be provided.
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Abstract
To fully understand biological processes, and how they fail in disease, it is vital to obtain structural information for the relevant biological machinery. Notably, it is becoming increasingly apparent that proteins, the key biological players in fundamental biology or disease mechanisms, often adopt multiple conformations or act in complexes with other proteins.
These large and/or dynamic systems present a challenge to traditional methods of 3D structural determination such as X-ray crystallography or NMR. Fortunately, in recent years, single particle analysis (SPA) through cryo-EM has emerged as a mainstream structural biology technique, which can determine the 3D structure of proteins and protein complexes at near-atomic resolution. SPA allows the determination of molecular details of purified and isolated proteins at near native conditions, albeit without the spatial and functional context of these proteins within the cell. Cryo-Electron Tomography (Cryo-ET) fills this gap by visualizing proteins within their functional cellular environments. This allows for observation of their relationships and interactions with other cellular components and holds great promise for cell biology.
During this seminar, Thermo Fisher Scientific representatives will present its new technology developments:
- New Glacios 2, and Krios G4, with the power of C-FEG.
- Energy Filter, Selectris/Selectris X, and direct electron detector camera, Falcon 4i.
- New SMART EPU software ecosystem, including EPU multi-grid.
- New Tomography 5 software and Tomo Live for tomography data collection and processing on the-fly.
- Dual beam systems, Aquilos 2, Hydra, and Arctis.