School of Biosciences Electron Microscopy Facility

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University of Sheffield unveils revolutionary multi-million pound electron microscopy facility

• New state-of-the-art electron microscopy facility opens at University of Sheffield

• Facility enables students and academics to study the cellular structure of biological pathogens associated with diarrhoea, MRSA and food poisoning

• Microscope allows the imaging of biological structures in the most exquisite detail, down to the level of individual atoms

Nobel Prize winner Dr Richard Henderson with University of Sheffield PhD student Ainhoa Dafis-Sagarmendi at the new facility

The University of Sheffield’s new multi-million pound electron microscopy facility was officially opened this week with a visit by Dr Richard Henderson, winner of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

The facility will be used to exploit recent scientific developments that have revolutionised our ability to visualise the inner workings of living things.

The importance of these developments was recognised last autumn when the Nobel Prize was awarded to Dr Henderson, Jacques Dubochet and Joachim Frank for their work in pioneering the field of cryo-electron microscopy.

The centrepiece of Sheffield’s new facility is an Arctica cryo-electron microscope (CryoEM) developed by FEI (Thermo Fischer). The Arctica incorporates state-of-the-art automation and detection technology to elucidate the three-dimensional structure of biological molecules and cells. It will allow the imaging of biological structures in the most exquisite detail, down to the level of individual atoms.

The facility is housed in the University of Sheffield’s Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, where research groups and students will be able to use it to study the cellular structure of bacterial pathogens responsible for diseases such as C. difficile associated diarrhoea, MRSA and food poisoning.

Researchers will also be looking into the internal workings of photosynthesis, with the potential for development of new energy technologies. The facility has been funded through the University of Sheffield’s Imagine: Imaging Life project, which brings together biologists, physicists, and chemists in using revolutionary microscopy techniques to answer some of the biggest questions in biology and medicine.

Professor Per Bullough, one of the coordinators of Imagine, trained with Dr Henderson early in his career. He said: “The Arctica will lead us to exciting new discoveries that would never have been possible before. Biological imaging is a key research area in Sheffield and the new CryoEM facility will be equipped to allow us to integrate our work with other researchers working in ‘super-resolution’ light microscopy for cell biology applications. Sheffield is becoming a world-class centre of excellence in biological imaging.”

After visiting the new facility, Dr Henderson delivered this year’s Krebs Lecture, titled ‘The increasing power of cryoEM for macromolecular structure determination’. He took a sold out audience through some of his recent research results before discussing the remaining barriers to progress in the field.

The University of Sheffield’s Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology plays a leading role in flagship research centres at the University, which are addressing the challenges of infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance. Researchers and students in the department have access to state-of-the art equipment and facilities in order to drive research and enhance student experience.

The Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology

Discover Imagine: Imaging Life

The EM facilities new TESCAN Vega3 Scanning Electron microscope is now fully operational.  Capable of variable pressure operation with multiple electron detectors for topographical and elemental analysis the Vega3 is also equipped with a peltier cooling/heating stage (-50 to +70), Oxford Instruments EDS with Aztec Software and a TEM in SEM holder.

Please contact Chris Hill ~x24674 c.j.hill@sheffield.ac.uk

Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded for development of cryoEM

Today the revolutionary impact of cryo-electron microscopy on our understanding of fundamental life processes has been recognized through the announcement of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

The prize has been awarded to Richard Henderson (MRC Cambridge), Jacques Dubochet (University of Lausanne) and Joachim Frank (Columbia University) "for developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution”. 

Cryo-electron microcopy (CryoEM) is one of the techniques that is fundamental to our Imagine: imaging life programme. CryoEM has allowed us to visualise biochemical processes in unprecedented detail; in the words of the Nobel organisation, in a way “which is decisive for both the basic understanding of life’s chemistry and for the development of pharmaceuticals.” 

Our work in Imagine builds directly on the methods first pioneered by Henderson, Dubochet, Frank and others, starting in the 1970s and 1980s. It is an especially exciting day for one of our Imagine team, Per Bullough, who was a student in the Henderson lab in the 1980s and witnessed many of the early developments taking shape. 

For more information on the science and scientists involved, go to: 

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