Our Imaging program encompasses a broad range of technologies – from the atomic scale to the cellular scale - aimed at uncovering structural and dynamical information of molecular interactions.
We leverage the capabilities of X-ray, electron and more conventional optical microscopy techniques to develop novel ways of extracting richer spatial or temporal information from the biological systems studied.
Physics of Imaging
The imaging techniques that are currently available — including X-ray crystallography, cryo-EM and super-resolution microscopy — all started as cutting-edge research in physics. In addition to these established imaging technologies our physics program is conducting cutting-edge research in emerging fields largely driven by the recent development of X-ray Free Electron Laser (XFEL) facilities.
Atomic Imaging
Linking atomic structure to function is the key to understanding molecular interactions of any kind. The Atomic Imaging theme is aimed at developing techniques to better determine the atomic structure of proteins.
Molecular Imaging
Linking structural information of protein interactions, multi-molecular complexes and macromolecular clusters to cellular information is key to understanding how these molecular interactions translate into cellular responses.
Cellular Imaging
The Cellular Imaging theme aims to image and quantify cellular behaviour in living animals. This will provide us the final piece to the puzzle of how molecular interactions result in co-ordinated immune response at the macroscale (i.e. whole animal level).