Scientists from the Baylor College of Medicine and the National University of Singapore have developed a new method that allows researchers to analyze cryo-electron tomography images more quickly. The new method will allow scientists to study a large number and a variety of cell types in significantly less time, leading to a more detailed understanding of cellular processes and disease, according to the team. The work was published this week in Nature Methods.
"Cryo-electron tomography is a powerful technology for visualizing the architecture and structures inside of cells at about 100 times better resolution than that of the best light microscope," said corresponding author Steven Ludtke, Ph.D, co-director of the National Center for Macromolecular Imaging and the Center for Computational and Integrative Biomedical Research and professor of biochemistry at Baylor College of Medicine.
According to Ludtke, cryo-electron tomography can provide information on cellular processes that cannot be obtained by any current method. However, the time it takes to annotate is quite lengthy, until now. They have tested this method on many different cell types and the accuracy level is quite high. Researchers interested in applying this method will find it available at no cost at http://EMAN2.org, together with an interface for training.