August 31, 2018 - Joachim Frank, the winner of the 2017 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry and a professor at Columbia University, was invited by Kurt Wüthrich, an adjunct professor at the iHuman Institute, to give a ShanghaiTech lecture titled "Single Particle Cryo-EM -- A Journey to High Resolution without Crystals.
The lecture began on time in the ShanghaiTech Lecture Hall. Jinkang Gong, the Vice President of ShanghaiTech firstly introduced Professor Kurt Wüthrich, the host of this ShanghaiTech Lecture. Professor Kurt Wüthrich has been a distinguished Professor at the iHuman Institute since 2013. He was awarded the 2002 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his "invented the method of measuring the three-dimensional structure of biological macromolecules in solution using nuclear magnetic resonance technology".
Professor Kurt Wüthrich introduced the background of Professor Joachim Frank in humorous words that made everyone's impression of the Nobel Prize winner closer. In the lecture, Prof. Joachim Frank explained the composition of cryo-electron microscopy. The cutting edge electron detectors have promoted the revolutionary advancement of cryo-electron microscopy, making it the most advanced technology in structural biology. Using cryo-electron microscopy, molecules in their natural state can be directly imaged without crystallization, and a density map of 2-4 angstroms can be used to re-construct an atomic resolution model. This technique also allows for the simultaneous acquisition of multiple conformations and binding patterns of a molecule from the same sample. The development of this technology is expected to find more biomolecules that can be used as drug targets from the cells. Professor Joachim Frank's vivid lecture and humorous metaphor won the audience's long and warm applause.
“Great scientists can always make great discoveries!” After the lecture, Vice President Gong on behalf of ShanghaiTech thanked Professor Joachim Frank for his wonderful lecture and issued him the “The ShanghaiTech Lecture” certificate.
Professor Joachim Frank is a biophysicist of Germany and the United States. He was born in Germany on September 12, 1940. He received his Ph.D. from the Technical University of Munich in 1970 and is currently a professor at Columbia University. He was elected the Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2006 and received the Benjamin Franklin Life Sciences Award in 2014. Professor Joachim Frank is the founder of cryo-electron microscopy single-particle 3D reconstruction technology and shared the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Jacques Dubochet and Richard Henderson. In addition, Professor Joachim Frank has made significant contributions to the study of the structure and function of ribosomes in bacteria and eukaryotes.
