Protein Science has recently published a Special Issue on Cryo-Electron Microscopy (Cryo-EM) guest edited by Georgios Skiniotis at the University of Michigan Medical School Department of Biological Chemistry.
Cryo-EM is a rapidly developing field of structural biology that provides stunningly detailed near-atomic resolution snapshots of biological structures on different levels of organization and complexity. Coupled with powerful image classification algorithms Cryo-EM does not only result in the high-resolution 3D maps, but also allows the researchers to look into conformational and compositional intricacies of biological molecules in a single sample, which is often difficult or impossible to obtain with other techniques. In conjunction with X-ray crystallography and electron cryo-tomography, Cryo-EM is a potent tool for understanding cell biology better than ever.
Read more about this Special Issue in the editorial by Georgios Skiniotis “A Snapshot of Cryo-EM”. This Special Issue includes both reviews and original articles focused on the most recent advancements and future directions of this dynamic field. The review by Hong-Wei Wang, Jianlin Lei and Yigong Shi “Biological cryo-electron microscopy in China” is of particular interest because it focuses on the state-of-the-art and key players of this field in China’s research community.
