Ran Zalk, PhD.
The NIBN Electron Microscopy Unit provides expertise and resources for solving macro-molecular structures. Structure determination is enabled by high-end transmission electron microscope (TEM) (FEI Tecnai F30 Polara), direct detection camera (Gatan K2 summit with Quantum GIF energy filter), and the computational support necessary for single particle analysis. Higher order structure determination is enabled by tomographic reconstructions using the same setup. Grids sample preparation expertise and equipment (Leica EM GP) are also available.
Our equipment is available for use by NIBN members, BGU faculty as well as other university faculty and industry upon application.
High-Resolution Protein Structures:
Understanding Human Diseases
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
March 19 – 20, 2018
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UPCOMING EVENTS
MY LATEST RESEARCH
Single-particle cryo-electron microscopy is a powerful tool for the study of large macromolecular complexes. Recent hardware and software developments have allowed to obtain high-resolution structures at near-atomic resolution where de-novo model building becomes feasible.
My goals are to use cryo-EM to study regulatory and dynamic processes at near-atomic resolution levels. My aims are designed to obtain important insight into the molecular-level regulatory processes such as the control of RyR1 channel activity by post-translational modifications that modulate skeletal and cardiac muscle contraction.
This has also therapeutic implication. Under conditions of chronic stress, including heart failure and muscular dystrophy, ryanodine receptor/calcium release channels become “leaky” as a result of post-translational modifications such as phosphorylation and oxidation and nitrosylation. This intra-cellular calcium leak can drive progressive heart failure, trigger fatal cardiac arrhythmias, and promote muscle damage in muscular dystrophy animal models. Thus, gaining new understandings of how the RyRs are regulated, and how drugs that fix the calcium leak bind to the channels has important implications for developing novel therapies for heart and skeletal muscle diseases.