MILWAUKEE _ Joachim Frank, who won the 2017 Nobel Prize in chemistry for developing cryo-electron microscopy, will give a public lecture at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on Friday, March 9.
His talk centers on the potential of that imaging method in viewing ultra-quick biological processes at the molecular level. Frank also will discuss new methods of data analysis that his lab pioneered in a collaboration with a UWM research group led by Abbas Ourmazd, distinguished professor of physics.
The free event begins at 3:30 p.m. in Room 162 of Lapham Hall, 3209 N. Maryland Ave. Spillover viewing is available by closed-circuit TV in room 1150 of the Kenwood Interdisciplinary Research Complex, 3135 N. Maryland Ave.
Frank shared the 2017 Nobel Prize in chemistry with Richard Henderson and Jacques Dubochet for developing cryo-electron microscopy, which allows scientists to view the movement of biological molecules using beams of electrons instead of light to take “snapshots” of frozen samples.
The imaging method produces multitudes of random, unsorted 2-D views that must be ordered and reconstructed in 3-D to show movement. Ourmazd’s group has created a new generation of powerful algorithms that can accomplish this.
Together, the scientists have made 3-D movies of some of the smallest units of life in short-lived states, such as biomolecules that read genetic code to create proteins in the human body.
Frank has been a professor in both the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics and the Department of Biological Sciences at Columbia University since 2008. Previously, he was a professor in the School of Public Health at SUNY Albany for more than 20 years. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
For more information, contact: Laura Otto, 414-303-4868, llhunt@uwm.edu.
About UWM
Recognized as one of the nation’s 115 top research universities, UW-Milwaukee provides a world-class education to 25,000 students from 91 countries on a budget of $653 million. Its 14 schools and colleges include Wisconsin’s only schools of architecture, freshwater sciences and public health, and it is a leading educator of nurses and teachers. UW-Milwaukee partners with leading companies to conduct joint research, offer student internships and serve as an economic engine for southeastern Wisconsin. The Princeton Review named UW-Milwaukee a 2018 “Best Midwestern” university based on overall academic excellence and student reviews, and the Sierra Club has recognized it as Wisconsin’s leading sustainable university.