Nobel prize in chemistry awarded for method to visualize biomolecules

The Nobel prize in chemistry has been awarded to Jacques Dubochet, University of Lausanne, Switzerland, Joachim Frank, Columbia University, New York, USA, and Richard Henderson, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK,

“for developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution”

This is very exciting news and fantastic recognition for the whole Cryo-Microscopy Society! The Cryo-EM Unit at the University of Helsinki, headed by Prof Sarah Butcher, hosts state-of-the-art transmission electron microsope FEI Talos Arctica, which enables this technique in its full capacity. We are sure it will prove very useful for  future outstanding research in Finland.

https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2017/press.html

Interview  in C& E News https://cen.acs.org/articles/95/web/2017/10/Cryo-electron-microscopy-innovators-win-2017-Nobel-Prize-in-Chemistry.html

Interview in Helsingin Sanomat https://www.hs.fi/tiede/art-2000005394534.html

Interview about all of the Nobel prizes in Helsingin Sanomat TV https://www.hs.fi/tiede/art-2000005401270.html

History of the high points of the field written by Peter Brzezinski of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry advanced-chemistryprize2017

 

Cryo-EM data collection at eBIC, Diamond UK

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On 2nd to 4th March, Pasi and Benita visited electron Bio-Imaging Centre (eBIC) at diamond synchrotron, UK. Two sessions worth of data was collected on FEI Krios equipped with post-GIF Gatan K2. Data is currently being processed at CSC and is proving to be of superb quality!

Workshop and AIROPico meeting in Amsterdam

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Members of the group travelled to Amsterdam on 22nd-23rd October for a workshop in 3D cell culture models, and a project meeting of the AIROPico consortium.

The workshop was entitled “The application of human 3D culture models for virus research”. By attending the workshop, new opportunities for academic collaboration were generated, and we also made links with some small biotech firms that have some intriguing products in the development pipeline.

Visit to Electron Microscope Manufacturer

Recently, Sarah Butcher and Laboratory Engineer Pasi Laurinmäki visited the Eindhoven facilities of FEI, an electron microscope manufacturer. They had a tour of the facilities, and were demonstrated the new microscopes and data analysis software. Cleansuits had to be worn in the assembly area!

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Photo courtesy of Pasi Laurinmäki.

Protobios CSO Toomas Neuman visiting the lab as part of the AIROPICO project

Toomas (Tom) Neuman joined the Butcher lab on January 21st for a two month period to teach us about Protobios, entrepreneurship and life in Estonia. Tom has been busy – one of his first tasks was to join a panel discussion with around 60 PhD students in the ILS winter school on “What does it mean to be a PhD student?” He especially commented on the properties that he as an employer is looking for in industry, including enthusiasm and dedication. Afterwards he joined in round table discussions with the students who were developing new courses for the ILS graduate program, and organising other student events. He has also presented the main idealogy and methods used in Protobios to our Tuesday Biophysics club, which led to a lively discussion amongst the 30 or so technicians, MSc & PhD students, postdocs and principle investigators present. Every week  he holds a workshop with the group to discuss setting up new businesses, brain-storming potential applications and new products. This week he focussed on a more autobiographical approach, going through his own entrepreneur adventures: “An entrepreneur is one who has at least one bankruptcy behind him” was one of his comments to emphasize that in business, as in life, we have to take risks. To introduce him to the cultural life in Helsinki, we visited one of the best “real ale” bars in Helsinki where Tom realised a big difference between Finns and Estonians: Estonians drink vodka and then beer, yet the custom is the opposite in Finland (or maybe just in the Butcher group??).

One of the possibilities that we want to foster through this exchange is not only knowledge on structural virology, but also possible networking for Tom and Protobios in Finland. To further these aims, we have had talks in Turku with Turku University, ArcDia International and Antibody Barcelona (other partners in the AIROPICO project), which have subsequently led to additional contacts with other biotech companies, and researchers in Helsinki University.

Time is flying by, and it is Tom’s last week next week. Time for a few more discussions, report writing and then back home now that all the snow has gone.

What’s happening in Airopico?

The first year of Airopico, an AIPP action from the FP7 Framework of the EU is coming to a close. We have an active technical board (Katja, Petri, Dirk and Sarah) from 4 of the partners meeting every month to report on scientific progress, exchanges occurring, recruitments, work shops and dissemination. This is a snapshot from one of our meetings. We had an exciting year, with the first papers submitted, a workshop on IPR in Helsinki with some 40 participants, and excellent panelists both from within the consortium and from without. The coming year will see 3 new recruitments, in Turku, Helsinki and Leuven – check out the EURAXESS and the www.airopico.eu sites for posts- we are looking for experienced researchers (4-10 years since start of PhD studies) with less than 12 months of work experience in the last 3 years in the recruiting country (Finland or Belgium). We are looking forward to a bright 2015 with 4 exchanges in to Helsinki from Protobios, and 1 from Helsinki to Protobios. Let the knowledge fly!AttendeeViewerImage001