NIEHS Cryo-EM Core Facility

National Institute Of Environmental Health Sciences

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

The NIEHS Cryo-EM Core continues to lead the deployment and to promote the adoption of techniques in cryo-electron microscopy in the region. Two dozen peer reviewed articles in high impact journals, five in the first half of FY2021, are an attestation of this leadership. One publication, describing a novel high throughput method for cryo-electron tomography developed in the context of a 2019 OAR Innovation Award to Dr. Borgnia, is now recognized as an important contribution to the global development of the field. The Core has played an important role in the intramural response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Borgnia is part of two ITAC Awards to NIEHS aimed to characterize SARS-CoV-2 macromolecular complexes associated with viral infection, replication and with the immune. These projects have spawned several collaborations with intramural and extramural groups, and multiple scientific reports at different stages of the publication process. This Fiscal Year brought three major enhancements in the capabilities of the NIEHS Cryo-EM Core: (1) the installation of a new 300 KeV cryo-electron microscope, (2) the development of a specialized robot for specimen deposition and (3) funding of a cryogenic Focused Ion Beam Scanning Electron Microscope (cryo-FIBSEM). The first is the result of a recently forged intramural collaboration with NIA, NIBIB, NIDA and NCATs. It will provide access to high-throughput and high-resolution data collection. The second is made possible by a 2021 OAR Innovation to Dr. Borgnia geared toward a molecular description of HIV viral fusion by time resolved cryo-EM. The cryo-FIBSEM is the result of a special award to Dr. Borgnia to study structural aspects of HIV infection in live target cells. These enhancements make the NIEHS Cryo-EM Core competitive in the field with a handful of institutions worldwide.