The 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: cryo-EM comes of age

Anal Bioanal Chem. 2018 Mar;410(8):2053-2057. doi: 10.1007/s00216-018-0899-8. Epub 2018 Feb 9.

Abstract

The 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank, and Richard Henderson for "developing cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution." This feature article summarizes some of the major achievements leading to the development of cryo-EM and recent technological breakthroughs that have transformed the method into a mainstream tool for structure determination.

Keywords: Cryo-EM; Nobel Prize; Structural biology; TEM.

Publication types

  • Historical Article
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cryoelectron Microscopy / history
  • Cryoelectron Microscopy / methods*
  • History, 20th Century
  • History, 21st Century
  • Humans
  • Microscopy, Electron, Transmission / history
  • Microscopy, Electron, Transmission / methods
  • Models, Molecular
  • Nobel Prize*
  • Proteins / ultrastructure
  • Ribosomes / ultrastructure

Substances

  • Proteins