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Health & Science3h 51m ago
Physicists at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed a new laser phase plate (LPP) that dramatically enhances cryo-electron microscope images of small biological proteins.
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University of California, Berkeley
Who
Holger Mueller, University of California, Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Bridget Carragher, Stephani Otte, Biohub
What
Physicists at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed a new laser phase plate (LPP) that dramatically enhances cryo-electron microscope images of small biological proteins.
When
Fri, 12 Jun 2026 01:55:52 GMT · 3h 51m ago
Where
University of California, Berkeley ·
Why
The laser phase plate addresses the persistent limitation of cryo-EM in providing poor contrast for proteins below ~70 kilodaltons, a size range including about 90% of the human proteome.
The Frontline Impact
How this affects you
This technology is expected to make previously invisible protein structures visible, potentially revolutionizing the understanding of disease and filling a crucial gap in knowledge about protein structures that are difficult to analyze with current methods. It could significantly advance drug discovery and biological research by enabling high-resolution imaging of a vast portion of the human proteome.
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2 events in this thread- Currently Reading3h 51m agoPhysicists at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed a new laser phase plate (LPP) that dramatically enhances cryo-electron microscope images of small biological proteins.
- Health & Science5h 17m agoA team of physicists adapted the phase-contrast technique to cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), which has about 10,000 times the magnification of light microscopy, to produce sharp images of molecules.Open article