BMI/PRISM Combined Seminar Series

Thursday January 8th

Room: GB06

Time: 11:30 am-12:30 pm

Presenter: Dr. Michael Wozny, Ph.D 

 "Cryo-Electron Microscopy (Cryo-EM) as a Tool for Pathogen Research"

Cryo-EM is transforming how structural biologists and microbiologists visualize pathogens and their interactions with host cells, providing multiscale views of proteins within their functional environment (in situ) during infection that span from atomic protein structures to organelle-scale ultrastructure. This talk will introduce principles and workflows of modern cryo-EM and cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) by showcasing structure determination of a cross-species anti-enterovirus neutralizing antibody using single particle analysis (Wozny et al., 2024, Microscopy and Microanalysis, DOI:10.1093/mam/ozae044.349), in situ structure determination of the ER-mitochondria encounter structure using cryo-focussed ion beam milling and cryo-correlative light & electron microscopy (Wozny et al., 2023, Nature, DOI:10.1038/s41586-023-06050-3), as well as high-throughput cryo-ET and high-resolution subtomogram averaging workflows (unpublished, presented American Society of Virology, 2025). This will highlight how cryo-EM has become a central tool for protein structure determination and a potential asset for studying pathogen-host interactions. Combining cryo-EM and cryo-ET enables high-resolution structure determination of heterogenous conformations and assemblies that are often challenging or impossible to capture by crystallography alone, especially for large, dynamic, or membrane-associated complexes. A sneak peek of Dr. Wozny's research program at USask will outline plans to apply similar multiscale, correlative imaging workflows to map the spatio-temporal reorganization of mitochondria antiviral signalling (MAVS) protein and partners at mitochondria-associated ER contact sites (MERCS) during viral infection.

 

Next BMI/PRISM Combined Seminar

Thrusday January 15th

 Presenter: Dr. Lucy Godley, Ph.D - Northwestern University

 

 

 

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