John W. and Jeanne M. Rowe Center for Research in Virology

Grant Lab

The Grant Lab develops methods for single-particle cryo electron microscopy (cryo-EM).

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The main research focus of the lab is the development of methods for single-particle cryo electron microscopy (cryo-EM), a technique for determining the structure of biological molecules.  In this technique, many hundreds of thousands to millions of images of molecules are taken on an electron microscope. By combining all of the information from these images using image processing techniques, it is possible to visualize the detailed atomic structure of the molecules. This allows us to gain a deeper understanding of how they work, and can be used to design new drugs to target these molecules and ultimately provide therapeutic treatment for disease.  As part of these efforts, we develop cisTEM, a software package containing a complete workflow for processing single-particle cryo-EM images within a user-friendly interface.

Principal Investigator Tim Grant

Timothy Grant is a Morgridge Institute Investigator and an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry in the UW–Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Tim’s expertise is in developing and applying new methods for improved imaging and image analysis by cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM). Cryo-EM is an increasingly powerful approach that is revolutionizing determining the structures of biological macromolecules (proteins, nucleic acids, etc.) and complexes at near-atomic to atomic resolution.

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