Recent developments in cellular structural biology approaches revolutionized the researchers’ ability to investigate biological processes. The direct imaging of unperturbed cellular environments of vitrified specimens now allows to analyze the function and structure of macromolecular complexes within their native context. These approaches are based on complex multi-modal workflows that rely on access to both cutting-edge instrumentation and advanced technical expertise. These methods are now established both at EMBL and Heidelberg University and are highly in demand. To address the ever-increasing demand for access to in-depth training in this field, the EMBL Imaging Centre in collaboration with Heidelberg University would like to offer a 4-day summer school diving into basics of focused ion beam – scanning electron microscopy methods under cryo conditions (cryo-FIB-SEM).

We would like to offer early career researchers in the field of cellular structural biology and adjacent disciplines the possibility to set the ground for utilizing these techniques for their studies. The different topics of the course will be covered by experts in the field in lectures in the morning, followed by practical (hands-on) training in the afternoons. The participants will learn how to prepare a sample by plunge freezing/high-pressure freezing, how to set up cryo-FIB milling. They will obtain a basic knowledge of cryo-ET (cryo- electron tomography) data collection, tomogram reconstruction and importantly data interpretation. Finally, we will offer to discuss sample preparation for their own projects in a round table discussion.

The summer school will happen on 17-20 of June 2024. The course will be held at the EMBL Imaging Centre (EMBL Heidelberg, Germany) providing a well-established platform, work and training environment for cellular cryo-EM with excellent leadership as well as expertise in the field to support the course. The infrastructure at EMBL equipped with 300 kV cryo-TEMs (4x), cryo-FIB-SEMs (4x) as well as high-pressure freezers (2x) as well as plunge freezers (4x) is the ideal place to be hosting this type of summer school.

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