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STC for Quantitative Cell Biology Seminar: Julia Mahamid

Event Type
Lecture
Sponsor
STC for Quantitative Cell Biology Seminar Series
Location
Beckman Institute Room 3269 (3rd floor tower room)
Virtual
wifi event
Date
Feb 16, 2024   3:00 pm  
Speaker
Julia Mahamid European Molecular Biology Laboratory - Heidelberg
Contact
Lisa Johnson
E-Mail
lisa3@illinois.edu
Views
36
Originating Calendar
Beckman Institute Calendar (internal events only)

Julia Mahamid, European Molecular Biology Laboratory - Heidelberg, will lecture on "Enabling discovery by in-cell structural biology."

Abstract: Most structural biology focuses on the structure and function of individual macromolecular complexes, but falls short of revealing how they come together to give rise to cellular functions. Here, cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) provides a unique opportunity for obtaining structural information across a wide range of spatial scales - from small model organisms, intact cells and 3D cultures frozen in their close-to-native state, to individual macromolecular assemblies embedded in their native functional environments. We develop and employ advanced sample preparation techniques for in-cell cryo-ET, including cryo-focused ion beam thinning guided by 3D correlative fluorescence microscopy. Preparations of such site-specific ‘electron-transparent windows’ in appropriate cellular model systems visualizes molecular structures directly from three-dimensional stills of intact cells and can reveal their molecular sociology. Using the genome-reduced human pathogen Mycoplasma pneumoniae as a minimal cell model, we further demonstrated the synergistic application of whole-cell crosslinking mass spectrometry and cellular cryo-ET to determine an in-cell integrative model of actively transcribing RNA polymerases coupled to a translating ribosomes. Recent computational breakthroughs now allow resolving these molecular machines to near-atomic resolution directly inside the cell, reveal small molecule antibiotics bound to their active site in ribosomes within the intact pathogen, provide snapshots of their structural dynamics along reaction cycles, and illuminate the existence and hint at functions of previously unknown macromolecular complexes. These cutting-edge methodologies unlock an enormous potential for system-spanning discovery enabled by label-free in-cell structural biology, and have recently enabled us to uncover cellular, molecular and structural basis of how stress to the host triggers viral replication and release during persistent mumps virus infection mediated by biomolecular condensation.



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