 |
CRYO AND 3D ELECTRON MICROSCOPY WORKSHOPFriday, March 23, 2007
|
 |
Co-sponsored by
Materials Research Institute
and
Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences
OBJECTIVE
Our objective for this program is to highlight the importance and broad applicability of CryoTEM for modern research in life sciences and materials science.
EVENT REGISTRATION
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Friday, March 23, 2007
Sriram Subramaniam, Ph.D.
Center for Cancer Research, NCI
BIO: Dr. Sriram Subramaniam obtained his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Stanford University in 1987 and carried out postdoctoral work in the departments of chemistry and biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1992, he joined the faculty at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine as an assistant professor, and was promoted to associate professor in 1998. He was appointed as Chief of the Biophysics Section in the Laboratory of Biochemistry in 1998, and subsequently Chief of the Biophysics Section in the Laboratory of Cell Biology in 2003. He continues to maintain a visiting faculty appointment with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Sacha De Carlo, Ph.D.
University of Colorado at Boulder
BIO: Since the beginning of his scientific career, Dr. DeCarlo has focused on 3D electron microscopy and computer-assisted image processing to study the structure, function and dynamics of molecular assemblies involved in fundamental biological processes such as protein folding and transcription. Cryo-EM and more specifically cryo-negative staining, which he helped develop during his thesis work in Prof. Jacques Dubochet's lab in Lausanne (DeCarlo et al., 2002), have fostered substantial progress in studies of large biological assemblies. This is especially true in the important topic of gene regulation, upon which Dr. De Carlo has focused during the past 4 years. Using single-particle 3D reconstruction techniques based on electron microscopy data, he and his colleagues were able to des cribe large flexible domains in both yeast RNA polymerase I (De Carlo et al., 2003) and human RNA polymerase II (Kostek et al., 2006). Using the newly developed cryo-negative staining technique, he and his colleagues were able to solve the structure of a very small human transcription factor, (hTFIIE, Jawhari et al. 2006) whose molecular weight (120kDa) is twice as small as what is still considered the detectable size-limit for cryo-EM of single molecular species. This work demonstrates for the first time that the structure of such relatively small molecules can be obtained by cryo-EM. Recent work has focussed on elucidating transcription initiation and regulatory mechanisms in Archaea (with K. Murakami, Penn State) and bacteria (with Tracy Nixon, Penn State). The latter efforts are devoted to understanding a family of molecular motors that are involved in bacterial transcription activation, the enhancer-binding proteins of the NtrC family (NtrC, NtrC1, NtrC4). The group has made substantial progress in understanding the structural basis of the regulated assembly and function of NtrC and gained insight about it interaction with the sigma 54 factor.
Francisco J. Asturias
Associate Professor,
Scripps Research Institute
Department of Cell Biology
BIO: Dr. Francisco Asturias received a PhD in Biophysical Chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania, and then joined the group of Roger Kornberg at Stanford University to pursue postdoctoral training. In 1998 he joined the faculty of the Cell Biology Department at The Scripps Research Institute. Dr. Asturias and his group use macromolecular cryo-electron microscopy to determine the structures of multi-protein complexes involved in DNA transcription and its regulation, chromatin remodeling, and fatty acid synthesis. Biochemical and functional information, and high-resolution structural information about individual complex components, are considered along with the cryo-EM structures to obtain mechanistic insights.
Alasdair Steven, Ph.D.
National Institute of Arthritis
and Musculoskeletal
and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) IRP
HOTEL RESERVATIONS
The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel
Guest rooms have been blocked at The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel for the night of Thursday, March 22nd. The Penn Stater is located in the heart of central Pennsylvania, and is just minutes from downtown State College, the University Park campus of The Pennsylvania State University and the State College/University Park Airport. When making your reservation, please mention the group code: Cryo322. The block of rooms, available on a first-come, first-serve basis, will be held until February 20th. After that date, all unreserved rooms will be released for general sale, and accommodations will be available based on a space and rate availability. The standard room rates are as follows: $89.00 per night single occupancy; $99.00 per night double occupancy. Room rates are subject to applicable state and local taxes.
Directions to Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel
The Ramada Inn
Guest rooms have been blocked for the night of Thursday, March 22nd. The Ramada Conference Center State College, Recipient of the Pinnacle Award, Presented to Hotels that achieve the Highest Level of Excellence, is located within two miles of Penn State University and Downtown State College.
When making your reservation, please mention the group code: CryoTEM. The block of rooms, available on a first-come, first-serve basis, will be held until February 22nd. After that date, all unreserved rooms will be released for general sale, and accommodations will be available based on a space and rate availability. Room rates are subject to applicable state and local taxes.The standard room rate is $68.00 per night.
Directions to the Ramada Conference Center
Copyright © 2007 The Pennsylvania State University Materials Research Institute
