Cryo-EM : Cryo-Electronic Microscopy

Description

In the last 5 years, interest in cryo-electron microscopy has grown exponentially due to groundbreaking new developments in instrumentation. This has resulted in the 2017 Nobel Prize in chemistry being awarded to the field of cryo-EM. Institut Pasteur has invested significantly in this technology with the purchase of 4 high-end systems and the erection of the Nano-Imaging Core Facility. The complex nature of transmission electron microscopes require many hours of practice and in depth knowledge to truly master. A significant shortage of well-trained microscopists has been created over time because of explosive growth and interest in cryo-EM. The combination of limited instructors, microscope availability and high running cost have resulted in only a few cryo-EM courses on offer worldwide.

Institute Pasteur now offers a full hands-on and intense, 2 weeks training to cover the basics in cryo-electron microscopy and sample preparation for the single particle analysis (SPA) workflow. In order to be able to successfully finish the course as an autonomous user, participants will need to take the full online MOOC for cryo-EM on EM-learning.com. This MOOC will contain all theoretical lectures needed to understand the practical sessions, as well as demonstrate the workflow and different practical operations in demonstration videos. The users will practice and learn each of the practical steps themselves during the 2 weeks course and will need to demonstrate mastery of the full SPA workflow in a practical exam. Successful completion will allow autonomous access to the Institut Pasteur high-end Glacios microscopes as well as sample preparation equipment. It will also allow access to future organized courses for Titan Krios operation and the tomography workflow.

 Interested in CryoEM? Lady Pipette, a PhD student at the Pasteur Institute, explains it with music!