Leica Microsystems, Centre for Structural Systems Biology to Develop Cryo-Imaging

Microscope developer Leica Microsystems GmbH and the Centre for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB) will collaborate for the development of new integrated cryo-Imaging solutions and the establishment of an advanced microscopy facility.

The Centre for Structural Systems Biology is a new research center supported by 10 partners from Northern Germany including three universities and six research institutes. Its mission is to become a leading international research center in the city of Hamburg.

The use of cryo-EM – the deep freezing of biological samples that enable them to be examined in their native state at high resolution – is central to the CSSB’s research, and was recently the subject of the 2017 Nobel Prize for Chemistry. For instance, work done in Professor Kay Grünewald’s team seeks to better understand the important steps in the infection process in viruses. Cryo electron tomography, one of the two main types of cryo-EM, is employed to examine molecules directly in their native cellular environment.

Information from cryo-EM is also used as part of an integrated structural biology approach in combination with discoveries from other fields such as biochemistry, crystallography and mass spectrometry.

"We are delighted to announce the CSSB as our partner,” said Christoph Thumser, EMEA sales director for life science research at Leica Microsystems. “Their combined expertise in cryo-EM and light microscopy, along with their deep knowledge in structural biology, will be invaluable to the collaboration as we further develop our solutions"

Leica Microsystems develops and manufactures microscopes and scientific instruments for the analysis of microstructures and nanostructures.