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  • TECHNOLOGY FEATURE

Catching proteins at play: the method revealing the cell’s inner mysteries

Cryo-electron tomography is a hugely promising tool in visual proteomics — if researchers can work out what they are seeing.
  1. Michael Eisenstein

    1. Michael Eisenstein is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

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A 70-MDa model of the human nuclear pore complex scaffold architecture.

Cryo-electron microscopy is revealing the inner workings of the nuclear pore complex. Credit: S. Mosalaganti et al./Science

Somebody hands you a tiny piece of a complex engine and asks you to explain its role in the larger machine. Unless you’re a skilled mechanic or engineering savant, the best you can do is give an educated guess.

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Nature 621, 646-648 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-02909-7

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