Hi, 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 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 titled 'Structure, Function, and Antigenicity of
the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Glycoprotein', published in the journal Cell in April, 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. Of course there are plenty of other examples,
especially after 2012, when cryo-EM became very popular.
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. If you interested I've added a link below.
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. Richard Henderson got a PhD from the University
of Cambridge in 1969. After a post-doc in the USA, he returned to
the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in 1973, where he still works today.
In our interview series, Richard is interviewed by Mejd Alsari from the Cavendish Lab in Cambridge.
We decided to split the 2 hour interview into several episodes, which will be published
probably every week. You will find the new episodes in our Youtube
channel, in this playlist. 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. One the issues of cryo-EM is that these microscopes
currently cost £5 million or so. Richard has been working towards the development
of more affordable cryo-EMs. Finally he mentions his business activities,
and his startups. As I said, these videos will be published
in our Youtube channel. If you want to get notified please subscribe to our channel.
The transcripts will be also published in our Scientific Video Protocols platform.
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