Cryo-Electron Microscopy in Structural Biology: From Structural Insights to Tomography and Drug Discovery

Cryo-electron microscopy, in combination with tomography, has emerged as a new technology for visualizing molecular structures at a resolution beyond even 1 Å. Using this technology has revealed the native molecular details of viruses, membranes, enzymes, ribosomes, and cells. This comprehensive volume brings together authoritative overviews of these methods from structural and biological perspectives. It is a must-have for researchers and graduate students, as well as those working in industry, primarily in the areas of biophysics, structural biology, crystallography, and genomics.

Key Features

- Focuses on the applications of cryo-EM to structural biology

- Documents the importance of cryo-EM/ET approaches in studying the structural determinants of cellular organelle and membrane protein biochemistry

- Reviews the applications of high-resolution structures of viruses

- Emphasizes structural insights of nuclear and gene machineries

- Includes a section focused entirely on the applications of cryo-EM/ET in drug discovery and therapeutic development

Krishnarao Appasani trained as a molecular cell biologist, earning Masters and Doctoral degrees in Biochemistry and Molecular biology. He accepted a Lectureship at Boston University and taught cell and molecular biology courses to undergraduates and graduate students. He was a post-doc in the laboratory of Nobel Laureate, the late Prof. H. Gobind Khorana at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Subsequently, he joined the faculty of Harvard Medical School and directed the Thoracic Oncology Laboratory at the Brigham &Women’s Hospital and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. During this time he completed an MBA at Bryant University, Smithfield, RI, and then moved to Perkin Elmer and directed the Microarrays group. Dr Appasani has published about 60 research papers and abstracts in international journals, especially on Gene Expression. He was awarded the Outstanding Investigator Award by the American Federation for Medical Research, Washington D.C., competed globally for the Ranbaxy Research Medal, and was honored with the 1997-Ranbaxy Research Award in the field of Applied Medical Sciences. At Perkin Elmer, Dr Appasani organized a global Biomics Seminar series to educate scientists and to initiate and develop collaborations with researchers in academia and other industries. For about 15 years he ran a multi-million-dollar knowledge management enterprise and served as an international authority in bridging Academia and Industry by fostering inter-disciplinary and translational science. In 2016 Dr Appasani was inducted as a Life Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, England, for his global efforts in promoting science education.