Cryo-EM: From Structure to Dynamics
| Date/Time: | Monday, 24 Aug 2015 from 4:10 pm to 5:00 pm |
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| Location: | Physics 0003 |
| Phone: | 515-294-5441 |
| Channel: | College of Liberal Arts and Sciences |
| Actions: | Download iCal/vCal | Email Reminder |
Abstract
Cryo-electron microscopy is a form of transmission electron microscopy that has been used to determine the 3D structure of biological specimens in the hydrated state and with high resolution. I will discuss the development of 4D cryo-electron microscopy by integrating the fourth dimension, time, into this powerful technique. From time-resolved diffraction of (i) amyloid fibrils in a thin layer of vitrified water at cryogenic temperatures, and (ii) an individual 3D microcrystal, picometer movements of protein molecules on a nanosecond time scale were detected. These proof-of-principle experiments pave the way for ultrafast structural dynamics studies of 2D membrane protein crystals and 3D micro- or nanocrystals embedded in vitreous ice. Indeed, the conformational changes in biologically active protein crystals are often much larger than the picometer movements detected here, and many of these movements occur on the nanosecond, or faster, time scales. It is for these reasons that I expect that 4D cryo-EM will have wide-ranging applications in the exciting field of dynamical biology.
Short Bio
Anthony Fitzpatrick is a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellow from the University of Cambridge, England working at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology (Cambridge) with Professor Sjors Scheres on structure determination of protein complexes using cryo-electron microscopy. He has a biophysics background (PhD with Professor Christopher M. Dobson, University of Cambridge) and did (joint) postdocs with Professors Helen Saibil in London, Robert G. Griffin at MIT and Ahmed Zewail at Caltech.