New Collaboration to Promote Study of the Role of Structural Biology in Disease

A major manufacturer of electron microscopes has joined a cooperative research initiative to combine this method with NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction to accelerate medical discoveries in the fields of infectious diseases and cancer.

The electron microscope manufacturer FEI (Hillsboro, OR, USA) has entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the [US] National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, MD, USA), to create a “Living Lab Structural Biology Center” to promote structural biology research through the integration of cryoelectron microscopy (EM), NMR spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction (XRD).

The research program, which will be centered on the campus of the [US] National Institutes of Health, will be empowered by FEI's Titan Krios transmission electron microscope (TEM), the world's most powerful commercially-available electron microscope for structural biology.

The collaboration effort will focus on the development of methods and workflows, from sample preparation through data analysis, which combine information from cryo-EM, XRD, and NMR. Researchers have historically relied on NMR and XRD techniques to determine the structures of molecular complexes and proteins that play a role in the causes of various disease states. Structural information about a variety of medically important proteins and drugs has been obtained by NMR and XRD methods. Cryo-EM is a complementary analytical technique that provides near-atomic resolution without requirements for crystallization or limits on molecular size and complexity imposed by the other techniques.

Dr. Don Kania, president and CEO of FEI, said, “This collaborative effort with NIH is a critical part of our strategy to provide complete microscopy solutions for life science research. Our life sciences business has been increasing rapidly and is a key part of our overall corporate growth plan. Helping our customers to obtain increased value from electron microscopy in conjunction with and complementary to XRD and NMR is a key element of that plan.”

Related Links:
FEI
National Institutes of Health