New Cryo-EM center at OHSU receives $5.9 million boost from NIH

Award will upgrade national center for electron-microscopy

By Erik Robinson September 12, 2019 Portland, Oregon

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Eric Gouaux, Ph.D., investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a senior scientist in the OHSU Vollum Institute. (OHSU/Kristyna Wentz-Graff)

Eric Gouaux, Ph.D. (OHSU)

Cryo-EM

Craig Yoshioka, Ph.D., research assistant professor of biomedical engineering, OHSU School of Medicine explains how the cryo-EM microscope operates.(OHSU/Kristyna Wentz-Graff)

Cryo-EM

Craig Yoshioka, Ph.D., research assistant professor of biomedical engineering, OHSU School of Medicine explains how the cryo-EM microscope operates. (OHSU/Kristyna Wentz-Graff)

Cryo-EM

The cryo-EM microscope (left) produces 'near-atomic' images by shooting a beam of electrons into a sample instead of visible light. Craig Yoshioka, Ph.D., research assistant professor of biomedical engineering, OHSU School of Medicine looks over a display from a cryo-EM microscope, May 2, 2018 at OHSU. (OHSU/Kristyna Wentz-Graff)

Cryo-EM

Cryo-EM can provide three-dimensional structural information on biological molecules with near atomic-level resolution detail. This technology has opened the doors for researchers to visualize many new types of biomolecules that have escaped detection by traditional methods (such as membrane proteins and receptors). Membrane proteins represent 50 percent of the market currently targeted by drug developers, and will be an area of specialization at the Pacific Northwest Center for Cryo-EM Center. (Image courtesy Steve Reichow, Ph.D.)

Cryo-EM

Michael Chapman, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry and molecular biology in the OHSU School of Medicine, looks inside a cryo-EM microscope at OHSU. Four more of these powerful scopes will be installed on the OHSU campus, creating the Pacific Northwest Center for Cryo-EM. (OHSU/Kristyna Wentz-Graff)