Structura Biotechnology

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🚀 Hiring: Cryo-EM Application Scientist, Marketing!

Develop and deliver high-impact scientific marketing content, illustrate the value of new #CryoSPARC features and #cryoEM advances, and help scientists understand how our tools can help solve their problems.

structura.bio/careers/appl...

CAHRA 2025: Community-Wide Assessment of Cryo-EM Heterogeneous Reconstruction Algorithms A community-wide data processing challenge for cryo-electron microscopy.

Announcing cryo-EM heterogeneity challenge #2, now dubbed the 2025 Community-Wide Assessment of Cryo-EM Heterogeneous Reconstruction Algorithms (CAHRA)! Join us for a webinar next Friday (Nov 14th) to learn more. Datasets already posted here: heterogeneity.notion.site/challenge #cryoem

Cryo-EM maps and atomic models of the biotin-containing 3-methylcrotonyl-CoA carboxylase (MCC) complex and long-chain acyl-CoA carboxylase (LCC) complex

New lab preprint!
@zestytoast.bsky.social tagged a scarce mycobacterial protein in M. smegmatis with TwinStep but got… something? @kjamali.bsky.social's ModelAngelo built models & @martinsteinegger.bsky.social's FoldSeek IDed them as the biotin-containing MCC & LCC complexes
🧵
tinyurl.com/ukny4ptz

On a gruelling hunt for rare associated molecules in your #cryoEM particle stack and not sure where to look?

Discover practical tips and tricks in our new case study using #CryoSPARC v4.7.1 where we find and refine a low-population interaction partner!

guide.cryosparc.com/processing-d...

CryoSPARC | Automated Repeat‑Target Structure Determination An end‑to‑end, automated workflow for single‑particle cryo‑EM that achieves state‑of‑the‑art consensus maps suitable for model building—demonstrated across 21 GPCR datasets, meeting or exceeding publi...

At cryosparc.com/automated-workflows we provide instructions and CryoSPARC Workflow JSON files so that users can get started with automation easily.
Reach out at discuss.cryosparc.com/c/automated-workflows.
Happy processing!

Automated processing unlocks several benefits. Time-to-structure can be greatly reduced and throughput can be easily scaled for repeat-target use cases. Solving multiple structures per day can now become a reality. 🚀

The workflow is powered by new methods, including micrograph junk detection, denoising, and reference based auto selection of 2D classes and 3D volumes. Read the preprint for more insights and details.

The automated workflow generalizes easily to new target classes.
We provide downloadable #CryoSPARC Workflow JSON files so that users can replicate, adapt and extend it for their own targets. All required jobs and tools are already available in v4.7.1+.

In 10 of 21 cases, the automated results enable improved model building of the ligand, binding pocket, side chain positioning and/or extracellular loops. Three striking examples are shown here and in the first video.

We test across 21 challenging active and inactive GPCR datasets.
Despite small particle size and the presence of contaminants, empty micelles, broken, denatured and aggregated particles, our automated workflow yields equal or better resolution and map quality in 17 of 21 cases.

The automation strategy we have developed can be set up once for any specific target class (e.g. active state GPCRs with Nb35) and reused to process multiple datasets fully hands-off. It makes use of minimal prior knowledge through a low-res (15Å) 3D reference map.

🚀 Introducing fully automated data processing for repeat-target #cryoEM.

Using new tools in #CryoSPARC, it is now possible to obtain resolutions & map quality equal to or better than manual processing, with zero user intervention.

Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

End-to-end automation of repeat-target cryo-EM structure determination in CryoSPARC https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.17.682689v1

Amyloid reconstructions from cryoSPARC

Helical Reconstruction of Amyloids in cryoSPARC?
We present guidelines, limitations & future perspectives for processing amyloids in cryoSPARC @structurabio.bsky.social.
Great collaboration of the Kelly Lab and @landerlab.bsky.social #cryoEM #amyloid www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Evolutionary analysis reveals the origin of sodium coupling in glutamate transporters - Nature Structural & Molecular Biology Reddy et al. used ancestral protein reconstruction, cryo-electron microscopy and functional assays to elucidate how a secondary active transporter evolved to harness the energy of sodium gradients to ...

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Happy (but mostly relieved) to share my dream project with @boudkerlab.bsky.social, now published in @natsmb.nature.com! We used evolution, protein engineering & cryoEM to uncover how ion coupling in glutamate transporters works, and how it evolved.🧵
Free article: go.nature.com/4oRUC1q

This one is a bit of a departure from the usual and definitely a work in progress!

We found that by using ab initio reconstruction at very high res, in very small steps, we could crack some small structures that had eluded us - e.g. 39kDa iPKAc (EMPIAR-10252), below.

Read on for details... 1/x

Advanced #cryoEM workflows are easy in #CryoSPARC: use the Low-Level Results Interface to combine upstream extracted particles with downstream pose and CTF information, use a volume result from an intermediate iteration of a refinement to create a mask, and more! guide.cryosparc.com/application-...

Upper - cryo-EM reconstruction of stomatin AQP1 complex. Lower - reconstruction of stomatin-UT-B complex.

Happy to share a new preprint from the Clarke & Vallese (@fravallese.bsky.social) labs reporting #cryoem structures of two RBC stomatin complexes – with AQP1 & UT-B - continuing the SPFH theme from our recent vault preprint! This was a fun one and has been cooking for a while - read on for more! ⬇️

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Soluble Proteins in Focus: Preparing for Cryo-EM Success. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar. Are you using cryo-EM to look at small soluble proteins? Join Dr. Claudio Catalano, a Senior Scientist at NanoImaging Services, to get expert advice on how to set your project up for success. He wil...

🧪 Skip the trial and error for structure determination of soluble proteins. Join the #webinar 10/8 for a gene-to-structure case study of CYP3A4, a 57 kDa cytochrome P450 monooxygenase, solved to 3.1 Å by #cryoEM.

nimgs.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Quote from Dr. Mingda Ye, University of Oxford, highlighting the collaborative breakthrough in cryo-EM imaging of small proteins: “This idea was initiated when solving sub-50kDa protein structures by cryo-EM was almost impossible. To break this barrier, many world-class scientists in different fields have combined forces and it is a great honour to work with them to bring this game-changing tool into reality!” The background diagram outlines the scientific workflow used in the study.

Exciting work from the Franklin, @ox.ac.uk, and @diamondlightsource.bsky.social has led to a new method for imaging small proteins (<50 kDa) using cryoEM. By using bifunctional, bispecific nanobody scaffolds, the team have successfully solved the smallest protein structure to date (14 kDa).

Covalently constrained ‘Di-Gembodies’ enable parallel structure solutions by cryo-EM - Nature Chemical Biology Disulfide-based dimerization of modified identical and heterologous nanobody scaffolds enables higher-order assembly for high-resolution cryo-electron microscopy structure determination that is widely...

Di-Gembodies (dimerized nanobodies) for improved and duplexed CryoEM of small and challenging targets!

A collaboration of @cmd.ox.ac.uk, STRUBI, @diamondlightsource.bsky.social, @rosfrankinst.bsky.social

Out now in Nature Chemical Biology @natchembio.nature.com

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

High-throughput investigation of cyclin docking interactions reveals the complexity of motif binding determinants - Nature Communications Many protein–protein interactions depend on Short Linear Motifs (SLiMs). In this study, the authors use large-scale binding assays, deep mutational scanning, and structural analysis to map SLiMs recog...

Just published: Our paper on high-throughput analysis of cyclin docking interactions, led by the group of Norman Davey @icr.ac.uk and with some small-complex-plus-peptide #cryoEM by @natalia-mg.bsky.social from my lab. Congratulations, everyone!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Flexibility can be frustrating when processing a #cryoEM dataset. If your target has a wobbly domain, check out our new case study on FaNaC1 for continuous heterogeneity tips in #CryoSPARC!

guide.cryosparc.com/processing-d...

Cryo electron microscopy and 3D image processing (CEM3DIP) This EMBO Practical Course is for participants who are interested in analysis of macromolecular structures in vitro and in situ using cryo-electron microscopy single particle reconstruction and t…

Get hands-on training on #cryofreezing, #DataAcquisition and more at EMBO Practical Course "Cryo electron microscopy and 3D image processing" in New Delhi, IN, 21 Feb–3 Mar 2026

Registration by 15 Sep
Abstract submission by 30 Sep

meetings.embo.org/event/26-cem...
#cryoEM #EMBOCryo3D #EMBOevents 🧪

That's a wrap! The results of the first #cryoEM heterogeneity challenge are up on biorxiv!
biorxiv.org/content/10.110

When particles have orientation bias, the resulting maps are often streaked along the missing directions. In this case study, we cover why orientation bias produces anisotropic #cryoEM maps and how you may be able to recover from it!

guide.cryosparc.com/processing-d...

Case Study: Pseudosymmetry in TRPV5 and Calmodulin (EMPIAR-10256) | CryoSPARC Guide Processing EMPIAR-10256 with a focus on handling pseudosymmetry and 3D Classification parameter choices.

guide.cryosparc.com/processing-d...

Link here! guide.cryosparc.com/processing-d...

Working with symmetric or pseudosymmetric particles in #cryoEM?

This TRPV5 and CaM case study includes practical considerations for using symmetry relaxation and 3D classification when analyzing a pseudosymmetric particle in #CryoSPARC!

When I arrived to NYC as a postdoc, NYSBDG was my first local meeting, and I was blown way by the world-class quality of the science.

It's a great opportunity to meet the local #structbio & #cryoem community, and it's coming up in two weeks, so register now at the eventbrite link below!