Visualizing Biological Complexity Across Scales in 3DEM

The 2021 Gordon Research Conference on Three-Dimensional Electron Microscopy will continue the tradition of highlighting the best of cutting-edge research in 3DEM.

The Coronavirus pandemic has changed all of our lives, and prevented us from meeting in 2020. We will have a special session to highlight the vital role that cryo-EM research has played in the intensive research being done to battle Covid-19, and in translational research in general.

Technological innovations have not stopped, despite the reduced capacity experienced by most labs. Progress continues in solving structures of macromolecular complexes to atomic resolution with new milestones observed. There are many exciting challenges that still confront us, including needs for hardware and platform innovation, reproducible and efficient sample preparation, higher throughput, algorithm development, data validation, and reaching towards dynamic and ever smaller complexes. The accumulation of huge data sets requires data mining and dissemination tools in order to best exploit these rich resources of information.

We also see a bridge forming between high resolution structures and in-situ structural biology. Developments in cellular tomography provide us with new ways to capture biological structures at ever finer detail. Developments in sample preparation for tissues and cells, FIB-milling, correlative light microscopy, phase plate technology, instrumentation, data acquisition and processing schemes have brought exciting new results to the field and rapid progress.

The meeting will highlight many of these aspects, as well as other complementary techniques that can bridge the gap between high resolution and large volumes.

We will continue with the popular tradition of having two evening sessions dedicated for selected poster presentations. There will be ample opportunities for senior and junior scientists to interact and discuss during social events and poster sessions. As in every year, due to limited attendance (<200 participants) and the over-subscribed nature of previous meetings, early registration is encouraged. In your application, please provide information on your research, and if you are a junior member of our community, please indicate the name of your advisor.