The Wadsworth Center 3D-EM Group consists of Wadsworth researchers who develop and use the latest advances in electron microscopy and image processing to study cellular processes, disease mechanisms and microbial pathogens. The techniques pioneered at Wadsworth are used by scientists around the world, and images generated over the past 4 decades can be found in top journals, textbooks and encyclopedias.

 

Program Updates

Dr. Frank at his Wadsworth Center Laboratory in Albany

Nobel Prize in Chemistry Goes to Former Wadsworth Scientist

Groundbreaking work performed in Albany leads to revolution in science and medicine Dr. Rajendra Agrawal has long expected his former Wadsworth Center colleague Dr. Joachim Frank to win the Nobel Prize. This year, it happened. On October 4th, Dr. Frank was named one of three winners of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Dr. Frank shares the prize with Drs. Richard Henderson of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England and Jacques Dubochet from the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.
Cryo-TEM image of T4 bacteriophage, vitreously frozen and imaged with phase plate

What’s Really COOL at Wadsworth

Pushing the Boundaries of Cryo-Electron MicroscopyWe’ve all left a water bottle in the freezer overnight only to find it bulging the next morning. That’s what water does when it freezes. It expands, right?Not always.Did you know, it is possible to freeze water without it expanding?Water expands when it freezes because ice crystals form. Since ice crystals damage cell structure, two freezing methods that don’t result in crystal formation are used in cryo-electron microscopy:
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