New Electron Microscope Enhances Research Opportunities

By Petrina Smith
Monday, 02 February, 2015

A unique $5 million electron microscope unveiled at Monash University's Clayton campus will strengthen Australia’s research on some of the world's most prevalent diseases.

The FEI Tian Krios Cryo-electron microscope stands three metres tall, weighs approximately one tonne and has a 300kV electron gun. As the only one in Australia, it will be housed in the university's Clive and Vera Ramaciotti Centre for Structural Cryo Electron Microscopy which is part of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Advanced Molecular Imaging. It is expected the electron microscope will help advance research towards better treatment for diseases from cancer and malaria to diabetes, rheumatism and multiple sclerosis
Director of the Imaging Centre James Whisstock says the microscope will help researchers to understand the human immune system. “To achieve this, we need to be able to observe the molecular structures at the heart of immune response. "Our immune system, and thus our health, is ultimately driven by the interactions of these large biological molecules. And those interactions depend on the 3D shapes and structures of the molecules involved.”
“The Titan Krios is powerful enough to resolve those intricate 3D shapes, identifying the position of individual atoms within a biological molecule and creating exquisitely detailed models including the molecules’ loops and side chains, James says. “It fills a gap, seeing things that X-ray crystallography and the Synchrotron can’t see." And Australian scientists have been queuing up to get time on Titans in Europe and America. Now they can do the job in Australia."
The Titan microscope will be involved in many studies including identifying a drug that can prevent the spread of the malaria; discovering key molecules which help infective bacteria acquire resistance to front-line drugs; and understand insulin and its receptor, the key to diabetes
Professor Whisstock said observing molecular structures at the heart of immune response is crucial to the work of structural biologists.

The new eelctron microscope facility has been funded with support from the Ramaciotti Foundations, the Australian Research Council (ARC), Monash University, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI), La Trobe University and the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia.

CAPTION: (L-R): Professor Aidan Byrne, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Research Council; Professor David De Kretser AC; and Professor James Whisstock.