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The development of cryo-EM into a mainstream structural biology technique

Nature Methods volume 13, pages 24–27 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

Single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) has emerged over the last two decades as a technique capable of studying challenging systems that otherwise defy structural characterization. Recent technical advances have resulted in a 'quantum leap' in applicability, throughput and achievable resolution that has gained this technique worldwide attention. Here I discuss some of the major historical landmarks in the development of the cryo-EM field, ultimately leading to its present success.

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Figure 1: Increase in the number of EM map depositions in the Electron Microscopy Data Bank (http://emdatabank.org/) over the last six years.
Figure 2

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank R. Glaeser for his feedback while writing this commentary. The author is supported by grants from the US National Institute of General Medical Sciences and is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator.

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  1. Eva Nogales is at the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, California; the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; and the Molecular Biophysics and Integrative Bioimaging Division, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, USA.,

    Eva Nogales

  2. the Howard Hughes Medical Institute,

    Eva Nogales

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  1. Eva Nogales
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Correspondence to Eva Nogales.

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Nogales, E. The development of cryo-EM into a mainstream structural biology technique. Nat Methods 13, 24–27 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.3694

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