Data Collection to Structure Refinement and Beyond
African horse sickness virus (AHSV) is one of the most lethal viruses known to infect horses. Reverse genetics has been used in vaccine research and with the aid of structural insights, could further improve AHSV vaccines. With the structure of bluetongue virus being known, many of the structural AHSV proteins can be modelled with homology…
The Electron Microscope Unit (EMU) at the University of Cape Town was established over sixty years ago as a regional imaging core facility serving the needs of the biological and materials science communities. Researchers in the EMU, with help from international scientists, have established the first single-particle cryo-EM resource in Africa. We support projects ranging…
Malaria, a tropical disease caused by Plasmodium falciparum, is transmitted by the haematophagous mated female Anopheles gambiae. The P. falciparum is reported as the most prevalent malaria parasite responsible for severe morbidity, mortality, and worldwide economic burden. This calls for novel approaches targeting the vector to intervene malaria endemic. Natural and artificial sounds have been…
Malaria remains a major killer disease whose main victims are communities living in the sub-Saharan African region. Its main victims are children (<5 years) and pregnant mothers. One of the key constraints towards malaria eradication and control is drug resistance. Malaria is caused by members of the Plasmodium genus of which P. falciparum causes the…
In response to the growing global demand for comprehensive connectome mapping, the SYNAPSE consortium was inaugurated in Singapore on January 15, 2020. It has since expanded beyond the Asia-Pacific region, with new members from Thailand, Jordan, and Poland sharing access to calibrated synchrotron microtomography beamlines across more than 10 synchrotron facilities. This approach is rooted…
Electron Microscopy under cryogenic temperatures is currently the fastest growing area in structural biology. Advances in instrumentation and software have made it possible for cryoEM to quite sustainably achieve resolutions in the order of 3Å or better for a wide range of biological specimens, without the need of crystallization or large scale protein production. I…
Spectroscopic analysis technique has attained greater traction in Biophysics research and education for quantitative detection of bulk elemental composition of a wide variety of sample like powders, solids, liquids, suspensions and biota. This paper examines the application of inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (Agilent technologies 5110 ICP-OES) for quantitative analysis in biophysics research. ICP-OES…
Snakebite envenomation is a neglected tropical disease killing >135,000 people annually, predominantly in developing countries. Polyvalent antivenom is the only treatment, but it’s made through outdated technology. Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) are the logical alternative for developing next-generation antivenom medicines. Here, we isolated a pair of antivenom mAbs that broadly cross-neutralized long and short chain three…
In this talk, I will review briefly the problem of protein folding, and how it may go wrong. I will then introduce broadly the cellular machines that take care of these problems and show how the combination of different experimental techniques with theory and computation can provide us with a satisfying description of the mechanism…