Proteins pinpointed in cells at nanometre resolution
Combining fluorescence microscopy and electron tomography will reveal more about how cells work and how diseases disrupt them
Inside the crowded confines of a cell, individual proteins can now be pinpointed with exceptional accuracy thanks to the combination of two powerful microscopy techniques.
Advances in cryogenic electron tomography (CET) produce images at near atomic scale resolution using purified proteins. However, in order to view a protein in its natural environment, a cell, CET is less useful. ‘One of the real challenges, is you’re not looking at a purified protein complex anymore,’ explains Peter Dahlberg, a post-doctoral researcher at Stanford University.