Structural Biology Core

The Structural Biology Core provides access to a variety of technologies to support all aspects of modern structural biology and is open to users from both dedicated structural labs as well as biologists wishing to incorporate structural studies into their projects.

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The Core can provide full training to users wishing to use the equipment or carry out time-limited, defined projects to requirement. We can also provide advice and assistance with all aspects of the typical structural biology workflow, from grant applications to paper preparation.

We also arrange and organise access to large-scale facilities such as the crystallography and solution scattering beamlines at Diamond, and high-end microscopes at eBIC and SCMI.

Specific Techniques

The mainstay of our work is protein structure determination using single-particle cryo-electron microscopy or X-ray crystallography. Increasingly, machine learning-based protein structure prediction tools are being used in structural biology and we can advise on how best to generate and use such models in an experimental context. We are also planning to expand our EM capabilities to allow imaging of much larger cellular structures in situ using techniques such as cryo-electron tomography.

As well as these specific examples, we also offer general imaging of a wide range of biological samples, whether cryo-preserved or fixed and stained using conventional methods.

Equipment

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• FEI Tecnai F20 transmission electron microscope (200 kV, field emission gun) equipped with an CMOS camera (Gatan Rio) and a direct electron detector (Gatan K2 Summit).  
• JEOL JEM-1400 Plus transmission electron microscope equipped with Gatan OneView camera.  
• Single tilt liquid nitrogen cryo-transfer holders (Gatan 626, Gatan ELSA), with transfer-station, pumping station and temperature control unit.  
• FEI Vitrobot automated vitrification unit (Vitrobot mark IV).  
• Various supporting equipment, including a glow-discharge unit, carbon and metal coaters, ultramicrotome and negative stain facilities.  
• Extensive computer resources for data processing and storage.  
• ARI Gryphon crystallisation robotics.

Coming Soon

As part of the Wellcome Trust DRP award, together with funding from the School of Biological Sciences and the Darwin Trust of Edinburgh, we will be installing a ThermoFisher Scientific Glacios 2 microscope with a Falcon 4i direct detector and Selectris energy filter.

Access to the DRP-HCB Structural Biology Core

To access the Bioinformatics Core, you must first register a project with the DRP-HCB.