Graduate Medical Sciences

Understanding the structures of life at a near-atomic scale

Studying the biological structures of viruses, proteins and other tiny macromolecules is key to understanding how life systems function and what happens when disease or injury cause these systems to break down.

These macromolecules are so small that traditional microscopes can’t see them very well. Instead, it takes a special kind of microscope to view these samples at the scale needed to fully understand them. The more powerful the microscope, the better researchers are able to map out the samples’ unique structures and applications.

Scientists at Boston University have the tools to do just that. Enter the Cryogenic Electron Microscopy (CryoEM) Core Facility, launched in April 2024 at the Center for Advanced Biomedical Research on the BU Medical Campus.