Keeping 3D electron crystallography relevant: Leveraging new technologies for 3D ED/MicroED at a regional cryoEM center

TL;DR

This paper discusses the use and development of MicroED in cryoEM facilities, highlighting its resurgence and technological improvements since 2018.

Contribution

The paper provides insights into the practical implementation and recent technological advancements of MicroED in multiuser cryoEM facilities.

Findings

MicroED has seen a resurgence for protein and small-molecule structure determination since 2013 and 2018, respectively.

Technological improvements have influenced the development and use of MicroED in multiuser facilities.

The author shares experiences from setting up and using MicroED at the New York Structural Biology Center from 2018 to the present.

Abstract

The crystallographic method MicroED (3D ED/MicroED) has seen a resurgence for protein structure determination since 2013, and for solving small-molecule structures since 2018. However, since the cryoEM “resolution revolution” in 2014, there has not been widespread adoption of the technique at cryoEM facilities as compared with single particle analysis. I discuss my experiences concerning the setup and use of MicroED at the New York Structural Biology Center, from 2018 to present, as well as technological advances in the cryoEM technique since then. In particular, I highlight how these improvements have guided current development and use of MicroED in multiuser facilities.