Expansion of the 'Getting Started in Cryo-EM' course into a comprehensive theory and practice curriculum

将“冷冻电镜入门”课程扩展为综合理论和实践课程

• 批准号: 10798674
• 负责人: GRANT J JENSEN
• 金额: $ 5.18万
• 依托单位: BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-06-01 至 2024-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10798674
• 关键词: Expansion; Getting; Started; Cryo; EM

Project Summary Cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) is a rapidly emerging technology for structural biology. While excitement and demand for the technology are high, the pace of training cryo-EM practitioners lags far behind. There are two major hurdles to the development of effective training programs: (1) potential learners come from a wide range of backgrounds and career stages, from graduate students to established structural biologists; and (2) learning cryo-EM requires many hours of hands-on “behind the wheel” training on specialized, expensive equipment that is often unavailable to learners at their home institutions. While some hands-on schools exist for cryoEM, they train only a handful of students a year, while demand for the technique requires orders of magnitude more. Workshops enroll more students, but are too short to teach all the necessary theory and lack a hands-on component. To train a skilled workforce of cryo-EM practitioners, here I propose to expand upon my successful “Getting Started in Cryo-EM” video lectures and create a comprehensive online curriculum covering the theory and practice of all major cryo-EM modalities including cryo-EM single particle reconstruction (SPR), electron cryotomography (cryo-ET) and microcrystal electron diffraction (micro-ED). This curriculum will include many tens of hours of new videos and also the supporting materials needed to maximize the usefulness of these videos. More specifically, my colleagues and I will produce new videos teaching the theory and practice of cryo-ET (including special sample prep issues like correlated light and electron microscopy and cryo-FIB milling), micro-ED, and facility management/advanced topics. We will also produce videos that introduce basic principles of cryo-EM image processing and prepare students to move from our materials to the specialized tutorials already available for several popular image processing packages. We will also create supporting materials including homework problems, open-ended and multiple-choice exam questions, training manuals with specific standardized practice exercises, and plans for training programs. Together with staff from the national cryo-EM service centers and my fellow curriculum development program awardees, I will work to develop a “merit badge” system to certify cryo-EM practitioners on specific skills and instruments. Materials will be designed in modules that can be mixed and matched to meet the specific needs of the learner. In conjunction with supervised training at a user’s home facility or national cryo-EM service center, the curriculum will offer everything a student needs to understand the theory of, and begin practicing, their desired cryo-EM technique.

项目概要 低温电子显微镜（cryo-EM）是一种快速新兴的结构生物学技术。 人们对该技术的热情和需求很高，但冷冻电镜从业人员的培训步伐却远远落后。 制定有效的培训计划有两个主要障碍：（1）潜在的学习者来 来自广泛的背景和职业阶段，从研究生到已建立的结构 生物学家；(2) 学习冷冻电镜需要大量时间的“驾驶”实践培训 专业的、昂贵的设备对于他们所在机构的学习者来说往往是无法获得的。 存在冷冻电镜实践学校，他们每年只培训少数学生，而对冷冻电镜的需求 技术需要更多的数量级，研讨会招收更多的学生，但时间太短，无法教授所有人。 缺乏必要的理论和实践部分来培训冷冻电镜从业人员的熟练劳动力， 在这里，我建议扩展我成功的“冷冻电镜入门”视频讲座，并创建一个 综合在线课程涵盖所有主要冷冻电镜模式的理论和实践，包括 冷冻电镜单粒子重建 (SPR)、电子冷冻断层扫描 (cryo-ET) 和微晶电子 该课程将包括数十小时的新视频以及支持。 更具体地说，我和我的同事将提供最大限度地发挥这些视频的实用性所需的材料。 制作冷冻电子断层扫描教学理论和实践的新视频（包括特殊样品准备问题，例如 相关光学和电子显微镜和冷冻 FIB 铣削）、微型 ED 和设施管理/高级 我们还将制作介绍冷冻电镜图像处理和准备的基本原理的视频。 学生可以从我们的材料转向已经可用于几种流行图像的专业教程 我们还将创建支持材料，包括作业问题、开放式问题和问题。 选择题、带有具体标准化练习题的培训手册以及计划 与国家冷冻电镜服务中心的工作人员和我的同事一起进行培训计划。 发展计划获奖者，我将致力于开发一个“功绩徽章”系统来认证冷冻电镜从业者 材料将被设计成可以混合和匹配的模块。 满足学习者的特定需求，并结合用户家庭设施或的监督培训。 国家冷冻电镜服务中心，课程将提供学生理解理论所需的一切 并开始练习他们想要的冷冻电镜技术。