Oral Presentation 26th ACMM “2020 Visions in Microscopy”

Invited talk - Using Cryo-Electron Tomography to Study Host-Pathogen Interactions (#69)

Elizabeth R Wright 1
  1. Biochemistry , University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA

Developments in technologies surrounding cryo-EM and light microscopy have transformed the fields of correlative microscopy and structural virology. It is now possible to achieve atomic and near atomic resolution structures of macromolecular complexes and viruses via cryo-EM and cryo-ET. In addition, technologies have provided a means for probing the spatiotemporal landscapes of cells and viruses at high resolution and in four-dimensions. My laboratory uses cryo-EM and molecular biology approaches to explore the three-dimensional (3D) structures of viruses and cells. In this talk, I will discuss some of our contributions to the fields of electron microscopy and structural virology. In particular, I will present data on our cryo-EM structural investigations of pleomorphic enveloped viruses, namely respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and measles virus. I will also present results of our cryo-EM methods development as applied to studies of viruses and cells. I will conclude by briefly outlining some of our future directions and challenges facing the field.