eBIC: Electron Bio-Imaging Centre

 CryoFIB user program

Submit your proposal

• For lamella preparation on frozen cells and microcrystals

• On-grid FIB milling only

• Rapid access

For more information please see here

We are pleased to announce a commissioning call for researchers to access the chameleon cryo-EM freezing device (application) developed commercially by SPT Labtech. This forms part of a collaboration between Diamond, the Rosalind Franklin Institute and SPT Labtech with the view to providing a platform for beta-testing of the chameleon by the wider user community that will aid further commercialisation of the system by SPT Labtech.

The chameleon uses piezo electric inkjet dispensing technology to apply nanolitre volumes of protein solution to self-wicking cryo-EM grids.

Please select the Rapid access route and the Talos instrument when you submit your proposal and also add that this is specifically for use with the chameleon.

Proposals are also open to existing BAG PIs.

Proposals will be reviewed by eBIC staff with a view to schedule beamtime from December/January.

Please follow this link for details about requirements and visit structure.

For inquiries please contact daniel.clare@diamond.ac.uk

Post-Doctoral Research Associate on Bacterial Chemotaxis (2 positions)

We now have two PDRA positions available in Professor Zhang’s lab at the eBIC in Diamond. The positions are funded by a 5-year ERC AdG grant award on “Molecular choreography of bacterial chemotaxis signalling”.

We are seeking highly motivated scientists to conduct high-resolution structural analysis of chemosensory arrays in distinct conformational states, in vitro and in vivo in native cells, as well as in time-resolved signalling states upon chemical stimulation, using cryoET and subtomogram averaging.

Chemotaxis - a ubiquitous biological behaviour enabling the movement of a cell or organism toward or away from chemicals - has severed as a paradigmatic model for the study of cellular sensory signal transduction and motile behaviour. This project is focused on understanding the underlying molecular mechanisms of chemosensory array assembly, activation by its stimulus and high cooperativity, by determining the precise interactions between the signalling components within in vitro reconstituted array systems and in native E. coli cells. We will use a combination of innovative and cutting-edge cryoEM/ET methods, including high-resolution cryoET subtomogram averaging, time-resolved conformational changes during signalling, and computational modelling of dynamics, as well as in vivo functional assays, to investigate the structural and dynamical mechanisms underlying signal transduction, propagation, and regulation in the chemosensory array.

Read more here... Post-Doctoral Research Associate on Bacterial Chemotaxis