Latest cryo-EM results from South Africa | Biophysics Workshops in South Africa

Latest cryo-EM results from South Africa

29 Nov 2023 (4:00 pm)

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29 Nov 2023 (5:00 pm)

Abstract

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 from synthetic biology and biotechnology, to the metabolism of disease-causing organisms, vaccine-design, and structural characterisation of important human drug targets. We enable our users to competitively access international imaging facilities to collect high-resolution images by providing the necessary preliminary data and science cases. We have performed several high-resolution data collections every year since 2018 and have several years’ experience of generating samples, operating these microscopes and analysing the resulting datasets. In this talk, I will show some of the results of these efforts.

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Speaker

Dr Jeremy Woodward

Electron Microscope Unit, University of Cape Town

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EMU (UCT)

About

Dr. Jeremy Woodward is a Research Officer in the Electron Microscope Unit, Principal Investigator in the Structural Biology Research Unit and the convenor of the Structural Biology Honours degree programme at the University of Cape Town.

He completed his PhD in Structural Biology at Ruhr University and the University of Cape Town under the supervision of Trevor Sewell and Markus Piotrowski. After a postdoctoral fellowship in the Department of Medical Biochemistry at the University of Cape Town, he was awarded an NRF Research Career Advancement Fellowship.

He founded and administers the cryo-EM block Allocation Group for South Africa at the electron Bio-Imaging Centre (eBIC) at Diamond Light Source and currently holds a three-year grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative for his project꞉ “Cryo-EM training for Southern Africa”.

Selected recent publications

1.
Malebo, K. et al. Development of a Two-Component Nanoparticle Vaccine Displaying an HIV-1 Envelope Glycoprotein that Elicits Tier 2 Neutralising Antibodies. Vaccines 12, 1063 (2024). Cite
1.
Margolin, E. et al. A plant-produced SARS-CoV-2 spike protein elicits heterologous immunity in hamsters. Front. Plant Sci. 14, (2023). Cite
1.
Ximba, P. et al. Development of a synthetic nanoparticle vaccine presenting the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein. Nanotechnology 33, 485102 (2022). Cite
1.
Lubbe, L., Sewell, B. T., Woodward, J. D. & Sturrock, E. D. Cryo‐EM reveals mechanisms of angiotensin I‐converting enzyme allostery and dimerization. The EMBO Journal 41, e110550 (2022). Cite
1.
Patterson, B. et al. Detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacilli in bio-aerosols from untreated TB patients. Gates Open Research 1, 11 (2018). Cite
1.
Wood, R. et al. Real-Time Investigation of Tuberculosis Transmission: Developing the Respiratory Aerosol Sampling Chamber (RASC). PLOS ONE 11, e0146658 (2016). Cite

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About

The Biophysics in Africa Monthly Colloquium Series is a joint project of the African Light Source Foundation (AfLS), African Physical Society (AfPS), and the South African Institute of Physics (SAIP). SAIP is an adhering body of the International Union of Pure and Applied Biophysics (IUPAB). The colloquia are always on the last Wednesday of every month. In addition to participation by students and colleagues worldwide, we invite speakers from around the globe as well. For more information please feel free to contact us at colloquium.series@africanbiophysics.org