Project Grant S10OD038236

ACQUISITION OF A 300-KEV TEM IMAGING FILTER SYSTEM - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT THE SIMONS ELECTRON MICROSCOPY CENTER (SEMC) IS REQUESTING FUNDS TO PURCHASE GATAN BIOCONTINUUM ENERGY FILTERS TO EXTEND THE CAPABILITY OF OUR TFS TITAN KRIOS G2 300-KEV CRYO- TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPES (KRIOS#1, KRIOS#2 AND KRIOS#3) FOR HIGH RESOLUTION DATA COLLECTION SUPPORTING BOTH SINGLE PARTICLE AND TOMOGRAPHY EXPERIMENTS. SEMC IS HOUSED AT THE NEW YORK STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY CENTER, A CONSORTIUM OF NINE (9) RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS IN NEW YORK STATE, AND IS ONE OF THE LARGEST CRYOEM FACILITIES IN THE WORLD THAT PROVIDES ACCESS TO STATE-OF-THE-ART EQUIPMENT, INCLUDING NINE (9) 300-KEV TFS KRIOS MICROSCOPES AND FOUR (4) 200-KEV TFS GLACIOS MICROSCOPES WITH DIRECT DETECTORS, AND ALL OTHER ANCILLARY EQUIPMENT REQUIRED TO SOLVE STRUCTURES TO THE HIGHEST POSSIBLE RESOLUTION USING CRYOEM. A HIGHLY QUALIFIED TECHNICAL TEAM PROVIDES DIRECT SUPPORT, GUIDANCE, AND ASSISTANCE, ENSURING THE HIGHEST QUALITY STRUCTURES ARE RESOLVED QUICKLY AND EFFICIENTLY. THE LONG- TERM OBJECTIVES OF THIS APPLICATION ARE: 1) TO ENSURE ACCESS TO STATE-OF-THE-ART CRYOEM INSTRUMENTATION AND EXPERTISE IN CRYOEM TECHNOLOGIES FOR NIH FUNDED RESEARCHERS, IN THE REGION AND NATION, FOR THE STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS OF BIOLOGICAL MACROMOLECULES AND THEIR INTERACTIONS; AND 2) TO PROVIDE TRAINING IN THE MOST MODERN TECHNIQUES OF CRYOEM APPROACHES FOR THE CURRENT AND NEXT GENERATION OF BIOMEDICAL RESEARCHERS. THE REQUESTED INSTRUMENTATION IS ESSENTIAL TO THE CORE PURPOSE OF THE CENTER TO ENSURE CONTINUED ACCESS FOR NIH FUNDED RESEARCHERS TO THE INSTRUMENTATION REQUIRED FOR THEIR RESEARCH PROJECTS. ALL MAJOR AND MINOR USERS HAVE ACTIVE RESEARCH PROJECTS THAT WOULD IMMEDIATELY BENEFIT FROM THE PROPOSED EQUIPMENT. THE IMPACT OF THIS FUNDING WILL EXTEND BEYOND THE PROJECTS OF THE MAJOR AND MINOR USERS, SINCE THE MICROSCOPES WILL ALSO BE MADE AVAILABLE TO THE BROADER SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY. TO HIGHLIGHT THE PAST 5 YEARS, THE CENTER HAS PROVIDED CRYOEM ACCESS TO 36 STATES ACROSS THE NATION AND DIRECTLY SUPPORTED OVER 750 ACTIVE RESEARCHERS. TAKEN TOGETHER, THIS INSTRUMENTATION WILL BENEFIT ALL USERS OF CENTER BY INCREASING THE CAPABILITY AND CAPACITY OF THESE INSTRUMENTS AND PROVIDE OUTSTANDING TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES TO THE NEXT GENERATION OF BIOMEDICAL SCIENTISTS. SEMC HAS A PROVEN TRACK RECORD OF MAINTAINING VARIOUS HIGH-END IMAGING SYSTEMS, STRONG INSTITUTIONAL SUPPORT AND A LARGE USERBASE, WHICH GUARANTEES THAT THE INSTRUMENTATION WILL BE USED TO ITS MAXIMUM POTENTIAL FOR YEARS TO COME.