Revolutionizing Cryo-Electron Microscopy: Prof. Carsten Sachse Wins Prestigious ERC Synergy Grant
Helmholtz Information congratulates: For his pioneering project in the field of cryo-electron microscopy Prof. Carsten Sachse from Forschungszentrum Jülich and Helmholtz Information has received a much-coveted European Research Council (ERC) Synergy Grant. Synergy Grants are among the most prestigious awards for researchers in Europe and they are only awarded to teams. (Source: Forschungszentrum Jülich – Press Releases)
Prof. Carsten Sachse, together with research partners from Germany and Switzerland, has received an ERC Synergy Grant to develop a cryo-electron microscopy technique that will enable even more precise investigation of the 3D structure of molecules in tissue samples and biological cells. ERC Synergy Grants support interdisciplinary research projects by outstanding established researchers that push the boundaries of knowledge and cannot be addressed by a single discipline alone. Out of 395 applications submitted, only 37 teams were selected consisting of two to four researchers, who will receive funding of up to € 10 million over a period of six years.
New technique for cryo-electron microscopy
Copyright: Forschungszentrum Jülich / Daniel Mann, Carsten Sachse
Cryo-electron microscopy, or cryo-EM, has revolutionized the life sciences in recent years by making it possible to directly determine the 3D structure of proteins in their natural state. Nevertheless, for many molecules, especially those that play a role in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, the resolution and contrast of established imaging techniques are still insufficient. As part of the 4D-BioSTEM project, which is being funded with a total of € 7.5 million, Prof. Carsten Sachse from Forschungszentrum Jülich, Prof. Knut Müller-Caspary from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, and Prof. Henning Stahlberg from the Swiss École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and the University of Lausanne want to jointly take the technology to the next level.
“In the case of such a groundbreaking innovation, many major and minor technical questions need to be addressed, which can be solved much more quickly through interdisciplinary cooperation as part of the ERC Synergy Grants than would be possible in separate specialist communities,” says a delighted Carsten Sachse, who conducts research and teaches at Forschungszentrum Jülich and Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf.
This will be made possible by 4D scanning electron microscopy. The method has so far been used primarily in materials research and enables an even finer level of detail by combining spatial and diffraction information. To study frozen biological samples, the interdisciplinary team, which combines expertise in biological and physical electron microscopy, uses specialized hardware and simulations, and develops microscope operating routines and image reconstruction algorithms for optimum image resolution. In this way, proteins in brain samples could be studied much more precisely in the future and – unlike in the past – directly in frozen tissue samples.
FZJ/T. Schlößer, 26.10.2023
The complete original press release can be found at:
Two Prestigious ERC Synergy Grants
Localization in the Helmholtz Research Field Information:
Helmholtz Research Field Information, Program 3: Materials Systems Engineering Processing, Topic 5: Materials Information Discovery
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Carsten Sachse
Director of the Ernst-Ruska-Centrums for Structural Biology (ER-C-3)
Forschungszentrum Jülich
Phone: +49 2461/61-2030
E-Mail: c.sachse@fz-juelich.de
Contact for this press release:
Tobias Schlößer
Press Officer
Forschungszentrum Jülich
Phone: +49 2461 61-4771
E-Mail: t.schloesser@fz-juelich.de
