Since its invention in the 1930s, electron microscopy has revolutionized biological research, making microscopic structures visible that would otherwise remain unseen. However, to obtain sufficient resolution to identify specific proteins in the electron density, electron microscopy relies on the averaging of identical structures, thus limiting, thus limiting their applicability for dynamic processes occurring within living cells. This is where Jonas and his team come in: “I think that optical super-resolution microscopy is the ideal, complementary technology because it allows us to investigate individual structures without any averaging, with very high contrast in the living cell”, Jonas says.
Jonas explains further: “At the moment, we can achieve a resolution of around ten nanometers in 3D and in multiple colors.” However, the time required to obtain that resolution is relatively slow, which limits its application in living cells. Consequently, the Ries lab is pursuing three approaches to improve dynamic super-resolution microscopy: first, they are enhancing the image acquisition speed to facilitate dynamic measurements with sufficient temporal resolution. Secondly, following the acquisition of thousands of snapshots in fixed cells, they are constructing a machine learning model to compile these snapshots into a molecular movie. Finally, the Ries lab is developing MINFLUX microscopy, due to its superior spatial and temporal resolution compared to conventional techniques. Ultimately, the Ries group aims to permit the direct recording of movies within living cells using their technologies.
Once established, these technologies will be applicable to many biological research questions. Jonas explains: “As a group that focuses on technology and development, we enable other research groups to make breakthroughs in their research. Therefore, it is very important for us to have many collaborations with biologists and to make all our developments easily accessible.” In the next 10 years, Jonas and his team hope to deliver on one of the holy grails of structural biology: to directly observe conformational changes in proteins in a living cell.
Voyage of the Starships: giant transposons as crucibles of evolution
Parthenogenesis, cryptobiosis, and the survival in extreme environmental conditions
Evading ageing: Mitochondrial and proteostatic adaptations in oocytes
Genomes in Rhodnius prolixus symbiotic system
Stem cells, immune evasion and metastasis in colorectal cancer
Ubiquitin & Friends Symposium 2024
The Ubiquitin & Friends Symposium is an annual international meeting taking place in the beautiful capital of Austria, aiming to bring together scholars from various fields studying ubiquitin/Ubl biology and protein degradation in a personal, family-like atmosphere, as suggested by the name.
The evolution and development of mollusc shells
Unraveling the Complexity of Crossover Regulation in C. elegans
Dynamics of 3D Genome Structure and Function
How superworms can help to solve our plastic waste crisis
Title to be announced
New players in an old pathway: biology of methanogens of the TACK superphylum
Shaping morphogen gradients: from molecules to tissues and back
Title to be announced
Studying stressed cells by in situ structural biology
Exploring Microbial Resilience: Unravelling Escherichia coliand#x27;s Stress Response at the Level of Protein Synthesis
Arbuscular mycorrhiza development and function
Deep homology and deep diversity: Evolving genetic toolkits for making and sensing light
The evolution of cell type identity and tissue microecology at the fetal-maternal interface
The unanticipated roles of PICIs and phages in bacterial evolution
Chemical targeting of subcellular protein localization
Origin and diversification of gut-derived organs in chordates
Job's Dilemma for the Genome: Why Bad Things Happen to Good Chromosomes
Connections between carbon and nitrogen cycling in the ocean
Understanding how the DNA-loop-extruding protein complex Condensin folds a chromatinized genome into mitotic chromosomes
DrugMap: A quantitative pan-cancer analysis of cysteine ligandability
From Roads to Rivers? Occurrence and environmental fate of tire and road wear particles and of tire-related chemicals
FENS 2024 Satellite event: Home cage behavior monitoring at the interface of animal welfare and neuroscience
Striking physiology and cell biology of (marine) environmental microorganisms
Mechanisms controlling maintenance of cohesin dependent loops
Title to be announced