Understanding life in molecular detail has perhaps never been more important than at the present time and the theme of the 2022 Astbury Conversation is ‘Seeing into Cells’.
We are once again delighted to welcome a Nobel Prize winner as our keynote speaker. Richard Henderson became a Nobel Laureate in 2017, joining our past speakers Brian Kobilka (Nobel Prize 2012) and Michael Levitt (Nobel Prize 2013).
Whether you are a researcher wanting to know about the latest developments, or you are simply interested in learning more about the hidden - but fascinating – world of macromolecules, the Astbury Conversation will give you new insights and understanding.
Presentation title: “Recent innovations in cryoEM”
Richard Henderson is a molecular biologist and biophysicist who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2017 for his contributions to the development of cryo-electron microscopy - a technique that uses electrons to determine the structure of molecules – and was the first to solve the structure of a protein found in the membrane of a cell.
Using X-rays to analyse bacteriorhodopsin, a light-harvesting protein found in tiny microbes, Richard discovered that it was composed of helices. Then, in collaboration with neuroscientist Nigel Unwin, he uncovered the three-dimensional arrangement of the helices within the bacterial membrane using electron microscopy — pioneering the powerful technique’s use to study biological molecules. Their model was published in the journal Nature. His vision, that electron microscopy could be used as a general tool to solve protein structures without needing crystals, took the best part of 40 years to come to fruition, but his achievements have transformed biology.
Richard has worked at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge since 1973, and was its Director from 1996–2006. Richard is a Fellow of the Royal Society, and was awarded the Copley Medal - the Society’s highest honour - in 2016. In 2017, he was awarded the ultimate scientific accolade, sharing the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Jacques Dubochet and Joachim Frank “for developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution.
If you would like to present a poster at the Astbury Conversation please download, complete and submit the abstract submission form to astburyconversation@leeds.ac.uk. Accepted presenters will be given the opportunity to produce a pdf, a short video (4 minutes) and discuss their work with attendees during the poster session.
Abstract Submission Deadline: 17:00 GMT Friday 1 April 2022
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