Completed Cells, Biochemistry & Physiology Genetics & Molecular Biology

Cryo-Electron Microscopy Research Infrastructure

Funder MRC (part of UKRI)
Recipient organisation
Funding £3.6M
Period Jul 2017 — Jul 2022

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

Oxford’s cryo-electron microscopy centre is upgrading its microscopes to keep imaging dangerous viruses and vaccines inside sealed containment units—a capability unique in Europe. The equipment lets researchers see the atomic-scale shapes of proteins, viruses, and human cell machinery in action. Without this level of detail, scientists cannot tell exactly how a vaccine triggers an immune response, or why a particular genetic mutation makes someone susceptible to disease. The centre serves over 300 structural biologists in Oxford and, through the national eBIC facility at Diamond Light Source, also supports researchers across the UK and internationally. If the upgrade succeeds, it will accelerate vaccine design for emerging viruses by revealing which surface features the immune system recognises best. It will also help pinpoint how genetic differences between individuals alter cellular and molecular processes, informing treatments for a wide range of medical conditions. The work is fundamental science—it does not deliver a new drug or device tomorrow—but it provides the structural blueprints that make those developments possible. Past investments in cryo-EM have already transformed drug discovery and vaccine development; this upgrade keeps that pipeline running.

View original technical description
The Oxford Centre for Particle Imaging at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics is pivotal for pan-departmental access and training in biological electron cryo microscopy (cryoEM) and electron cryo tomography (cryoET) for the 300+ structural biology research community in Oxford. State-of-the-art cryoEM and cryoET can image the molecular mechanisms by which human cells, disease pathogens and vaccines work. Such studies can pinpoint how differences in the genetic makeup of individuals contribute to a wide range of medical conditions through effects at the cellular and molecular level. Likewise, the design of vaccines to combat emergent viruses can be guided by mapping the surface details of the virus that are best recognised by our immune system. This grant application is to upgrade instrumentation for state-of-the-art cryoEM and cryoET in OPIC. OPIC is unique in Europe in having the capability, when necessary, to run cryoEM and cryoET data collection in containment. OPIC, through its association with the UK national facility, eBIC (electron Bio-Imaging Centre) at Diamond Light Source, provides access for such experiments to the broader national and international user community. On-going analyses on viruses and vaccines important to human health worldwide will benefit from the requested equipment.

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Researchers

Yvonne Jones (Principal Investigator)

Related Research

Grants with similar aims, by meaning.

Purchase of electron microscopic infrastructure to establish a multi-user facility for cryo electron microscopy, in particular cryo electron tomography.
Cryo-electron microscope for structural and cell biology
Accelerating throughput at Scotland's national Cryo-EM centre - a next generation direct electron detector for SCMI.
Modern Cryo-Electron Microscopy with Direct Electron Detection at the University of Leeds.
Establishing a cryogenic correlative light-electron microscopy hub for Oxford

Original classification

Intramural

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