This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
Funding has been awarded to the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) under the direction of Dr. Ricardo Bernal for the purchase of a new 200 kilovolt field emission gun electron microscope equipped with a stage that is capable of maintaining the sample at liquid nitrogen temperatures. This new instrument will be used to determine the high resolution three-dimensional structure of macromolecular assemblies such as nanopolymer particles, viruses, and various protein complexes. Disciplines including nanotechnology, virology, biochemistry and cell biology all rely on defining molecular structure to properly understand function. This state of the art instrument will allow the probing of three dimensional structures to nearly atomic resolution. Researchers throughout the region will have access to the new instrument increasing its impact as a regional resource. UTEP is in the process of establishing a highly competitive cryo-electron microscopy facility as part of a larger structural biology initiative to expand research capabilities. Facilities exist at UTEP for in-house X-ray crystallography, NMR as well as powerful computational resources for structure determination. Furthermore, the University has started construction of a new Chemistry building that includes a cryo-EM facility to house the new instrument. Small molecule and macromolecular X-ray crystallography together with new NMR instrumentation and the new cryo EM facility will help establish a highly competitive structural biology program at UTEP and the southwestern region of the U.S. Having this sophisticated instrument at UTEP will not only stimulate underrepresented minorities to pursue careers in science but it will provide UTEP students with the training that will make them highly competitive at an international level. Results from data obtained with this instrument will be published in high impact peer reviewed scientific journals and will be presented at scientific conferences for wide dissemination.
