One of the most up-to-date imaging methods of biological studies, Cryo-EM Cryo-EM, which has been described as a “revolution” in structural biology, acquires its first specialized laboratory in Southeast Europe, and this will be in the National Foundation in Greece. Headed for his organization is a Greek researcher with an international course, Professor of the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology at the University of Halle-Biteberg, Panagiotis Kastritis.

The workshop will have four state-of-the-art Cryo-EM microscopes, the Krios G4, Aquilos 2, Talos L120C (S) TEM and Spectra 200 (S) Tem. Cryo-EM procurement contracts have already been signed and renovations are being renovated.

The workshop will be part of the new Theranostics Center designed at the National Research Foundation for Research and Innovation in Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment, funded by the Recovery Fund.

Cryelectronic microscopy is a Nobel Prize -winning technique that revolutionizes the observation of molecules. Until recently, the observation of proteins or other molecules and their complex mechanisms at the individual level was a challenge. Cryo-EM gives scientists the opportunity to observe in detail with powerful electromagnetic lenses biological specimens that have been frozen in liquid nitrogen. The resulting images are combined and analyzed by special software to eventually reveal the three -dimensional structure of a molecule of the protein or its complexes. The ultimate goal is to achieve a complete understanding of cell function.

Having received European funding of ERA Chair for the development of the Cryoelectronic Microscopy Laboratory in the EU, Professor at the University of Halle-Bitemberg in Germany, Panagiotis Kastritis, has undertaken to set up the workshop and has already set up the multi-scientific team. The team is trained, through visits to the microscopes of his workshop in Germany, to handle machinery and data. Mr Kastritis also transfers the know -how of the workshop to create the bridges of cooperation with other research institutions in Greece, in Southeast Europe, and the rest of the world. “Extraversion is incredibly important for this so accurate and valuable technology that will come to Greece,” Mr Kastritis told RES-EIA.

Panagiotis Kastritis’ journey to the microcosm of cells began with his studies in Biology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. In the Molecular Biophysics courses, with Professor Stavros Emodrakas, a pioneer of computing biology in Greece, Mr. Kastritis was impressed by structural biology, where an attempt to understand the functioning of the cells by detailed methods.

“It is obviously impressive for all of us that we are made up of billions of billions of cells that communicate. Through the biophysics lesson I realized that there are specific biophysical laws with which we understand how the cell works. In fact, man has created natural models, relatively successful in understanding the function of proteins in the cell, and this mathematicalization of the cell has impressed me, ”he recalls.

During his thesis, Mr Kastritis received European funding, through the initiative of Professor of Biochemistry, Konstantinos Vorgia, to visit the Nuclear Magnetic Coordination (NMR) spectroscopy at the University of Utrecht. There, he acquired his doctorate in computing structural biology, which was distinguished as the best doctorate at the University Bijvoet Biomological Research Center in 2012.

He then conducted a postdoctoral research at the renowned European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, one of the research centers that developed and perfected the method of cryoelectronic microscopy. It was the period when publications on the first structures of protein complexes observed with cryoelectronic microscopes, in individual, that is, very high, discretion, were strongly discussed in the scientific community.

Until then, the two main methods of cell observation were X -ray crystallography and NMR, but with Cryelectronic microscopy scientists found that they were able to see in high resolution complex biological molecules that cannot be analyzed by other methods in order to understand the other methods.

Cryelectronic microscopy, although known since the 1960s, has experienced a real explosion in recent years, as, as Mr Castritis explains to RES-EIA, “the microscope has become more stable and with newer camera technology and during the same period there was a revolution in the hardware and the cards. Also, the way the sample was made was almost automated. For these reasons, 2017 was given the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to scientists who developed this method. “

In 2018, Panagiotis Kastritis undertook to create the Cryo -EM Lab at Halle -Viteberg University, where he has handled many millions of euros in funding and has published research in the leading scientific journals around the world. Also, in 2023 he has been a visiting researcher at the National Research Foundation and has received European funding of ERA Chair of two and a half million euros to transfer the knowledge of crystalline microscope to Greece.

Through all this journey into the world of cells with the help of Cryo-Em, Mr Castritis observes how much the cell image has changed in his mind. “The cell is essentially a whole for me. This incredible complexity of the cell is obscure when you are a student. Even today, however, I do not know more about all of it. You may understand that mathematical equations and experimental methods can predict and analyze some things, but in the end all this cell complexity remains an unanswered question again. But now, this complexity can be systematically approached to a greater and greater extent. It is incredible the difference in understanding of biological macromolecules and their actions with cryoelectronic microscopy. “

But what is the ultimate goal of this understanding, we ask him. “Cryelectronic microscopy is a completely new way to try to understand the function of the cell. What I do through my research is to take cells, to “break” them and to see what they have in, that is, to understand how the cell contents are and what structure they have. Every image we receive, every structure we solve, reveals completely new knowledge of the functioning of cellular metabolism. I want through my research to understand the structure of life. And through this understanding, in collaboration with other biologists more specialized in medical or biotechnological issues, we are resolving unanswered questions about cancer, Alzheimer’s or other diseases, ”he concludes.