The membrane that surrounds cells in living organisms is extremely flexible and sensitive. How it protects itself from damage and renews itself is crucial for many life processes, and is not yet fully ...

Back in 2008, the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA, or CNSI, debuted a one-of-a-kind resource for understanding biology at the smallest scales — a state-of-the-art cryo-electron microscope. By ...

Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) has become a powerful tool for determining the structures of proteins, viruses and molecular complexes at near-atomic resolution. However, achievable resolution is ...

Cryo-electron microscopy structures of the cyanobacterial ChlG2HliD2 complex uncover how chlorophyll synthase coordinates ...

Collaboration between researchers at the University of Geneva, Institut de biologie structurale de Grenoble, and the University of Fribourg has shown how lipids and proteins in cell membranes react in ...

The enzyme RNA polymerase (RNAP) carries out transcription, copying DNA into RNA. It's the first step in gene expression, and a process fundamental to all life. But the inner workings of this ...

Achieving thin ice with optimal thickness is a prerequisite for successful cryo-EM analysis of embedded macromolecules. Despite decades of effort, precise control of ...

Biohub and UC Berkeley show that the laser phase plate, a revolutionary device with a laser 100 million times brighter than the Sun, dramatically improves images obtained through cryo-electron ...

Nearly 100 years ago, a seemingly simple discovery revolutionized the microscope. The introduction of phase contrast, which garnered a Nobel Prize in 1953, brought into clear view structures inside ...