This event is part of OIST's Researcher Appreciation Month (RAM) in October 2024.

Title: A Structural Journey With Viruses and Core Facilities

Abstract: What’s it like to be part of a revolution? Cryogenic electron microscopy and its improvements from the early nineties to the current resolution revolution are integral to my biography. The main focus of my journey has been in understanding virus structure, maturation, entry and inhibition, with a few sidetracks on the way. I will discuss some of our latest results on flavivirus maturation, and picornavirus inhibition with small molecules, but will also take time to discuss the trials and tribulations of setting up and running two facilities, a national structural biology facility network, and a European network (Instruct-ERIC).

(References below)

Profile: Prof Sarah Butcher has over 30 years’ experience in cryoEM, structural biology and antiviral drug discovery, primarily in academia. Currently, she is Professor of Microbiology, in a joint position between the Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences and the HiLIFE Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki, Finland where she focuses on the structure and function of neglected and emerging viruses. She gained her PhD for work done in EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany on the cryoEM structures of lipid-containing bacteriophage, carried out a postdoctoral fellowship in the MRC Virology Unit in Glasgow, UK establishing cryoEM, and then moved to Finland where she started the country’s first cryoEM unit in the late 1990s. She is an elected fellow of EMBO and the Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters. Currently, she leads the Finnish Instruct Centre and is Chair of the Instruct-ERIC Council, which coordinates access to structural cell biology infrastructure across Europe.

Language: English, no interpretation.

Target audience: General audience / everyone at OIST and beyond.
Freely accessible to all OIST members and guests without registration.

This talk will also be broadcast online via Zoom:

Meeting ID: 975 4800 3254
Passcode: 505109

References

• Anastasina, M., *Füzik, T., Domanska, A., Pulkkinen, L. I. A., Šmerdová, L., Pokorná Formanová^, P., Straková, P., Nováček, J., Růžek, D., *Plevka, P., *Butcher, S.J. (2024) The structure of immature tick-borne encephalitis virus.  Science Advances 10, eadl1888
• Tammaro, C., Plavec, Z., Myllymäki, L., Mitchell, C., Consalvi, S., Biava, M., Ciogli, A., Domanska, A., Leppilampi V.,  Buckner, C., Manetto, S., Sciò, P., Coluccia, A.,  Laajala, M., Dondio, G.M., Bigogno, C., Marjomäki, V., Butcher, S.J., Poce. G. (2024) SARS analysis of novel coxsackievirus A9 capsid binders. J. Med. Chem 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.4c00701
•  Henderikx, RJM, Mann,D, Domanska, A, Dong,J, Shahzad, S, Lak, B, Filopoulou, A., Ludig, D., Grininger, M., Momoh, J.,  Williams, PA, Laanto, E., Oksanen, H.M., Bisikalo, K., Butcher, SJ, Peters, PJ, Beulen, BWAMM. (2024) VitroJet: new features and case studies. Acta Cryst. Section D80 https://doi.org/10.1107/S2059798324001852

※ Please note that this event may be recorded and the videos uploaded. In addition, photos may be taken during the event. These are intended for publication online (the OIST website, social media, etc.)※