Introduction | Interview Series with Richard Henderson #0

Опубликовано: 16 Октябрь 2024
на канале: BULLAKI

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This is an introduction to the "Cryo-EM Interview Series" with Richard Henderson and our Scientific Video Protocols video journal.

Cryo-EM Interview Series:

Part 0: Introduction | Interview Series with Richard Henderson #0 (   • Introduction | Interview Series with ...  )
Part 1: The Nobel Prize Factory | Interview Series with Richard Henderson #1 (   • The Nobel Prize Factory | Interview S...  )
Part 2: History of Cryo-EM | Interview Series with Richard Henderson #2 (   • History of Cryo-EM | Interview Series...  )
Part 3: Radiation Sources in Structural Biology | Interview Series with Richard Henderson #3 (   • Radiation Sources in Structural Biolo...  )
Part 4: Biotech Start-ups and Industry Partnerships | Interview Series with Richard Henderson #4 (   • Biotech Start-ups and Industry Partne...  )

Our interview with Venki Ramakrishnan: https://scivpro.com/manuscript/10_323...

www.scivpro.com
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Scientific Video Protocols is the first full open-access peer-reviewed video journal publishing in 4k cinematic quality. Contact us for submissions: https://scivpro.com/submit/

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I’m recording this short video to give you some background on our latest production “The Cryo-EM Interview Series” with Richard Henderson and the work that we do.

Cryo-EM stands for electron cryo-microscopy, as Richard defines it. It’s a technique that uses Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) in combination with samples in an environment of vitreous water at liquid nitrogen temperature, as well as sophisticated data analysis methods.

Resolving the structure of biomolecules is a fundamental step for understanding how life works, and for the development of new drugs, treatments, vaccines and so on.

One recent example is the coronavirus, the COVID-19. For example in a highly cited paper https://www.sciencedirect.com/science..., the authors mention that they ‘determined cryo-EM structures of a SARS-CoV-2 S component, which provides a blueprint for the design of vaccines’.

A few decades ago, resolving the structure of a biomolecule at atomic level would have taken years if not decades. It would have involved complex crystallization methods and measurements using synchrotron X-ray diffraction, which is a topic we covered in our interview with Venki Ramakhrisnan (https://scivpro.com/manuscript/10_323....

Now thanks to the relatively new technique of cryo-EM, invented by Richard Henderson and colleagues, resolving the structure of certain biomolecules could take just a couple of days.

This is why Richard Henderson was awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, with Jacques Dubochet and Ioachim Frank for developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution.

We decided to split the 2 hour interview into several episodes, which will be published probably every week.

In this interview, Richard talks about the history of electron cryo-microscopy, including the discoveries made by his colleagues Jacques Dubochet and Ioachim Frank, and of course his work on the purple membrane. He also talks about synchrotron radiation facilities and how researchers can now access cryo-EM microscopes. He discusses the improvements that can be done to further push the resolution of cryo-EM. He explains the Grand Scheme towards a complete physical theory of cryo-EM. Richard has been working towards the development of more affordable cryo-EMs.
Finally he mentions his business activities, and his startups.

The transcripts will be also published in our Scientific Video Protocols platform (www.scivpro.com).

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