Online Single Particle Workshop

IMpaCT is very proud of its first full Online Workshop.

 

IMpaCT organized the Single Particle – sample preparation Workshop as a virtual course, that took place from 2 to 5 November 2020. This 4-day workshop was carried out with the participation of 22 students and the support of 11 mentors. In total, we had 33 participants, ranging from PIs, researchers, post-docs, PhD students, connecting from 6 different countries.

 

Due to the worldwide pandemic and to circumvent all the limitation, the Project Consortium decided to adjust the Single Particle Workshop to be run fully as a Virtual Course.

Aware that this format would be incompatible with a full hands-on training, our University of Helsinki (UH) partner made a great effort to plan a very interactive online workshop.

 

The workshop was planned as a mix of theoretical, demo-vlog videos made by the UH team, and practical sessions.

We had the great pleasure of welcoming Marta Carroni, from the SciLife Lab (SE), and one of members of the IMpaCT Scientific Advisors Board, Shabih Shakeel from the MCR – Laboratory of Molecular Biology (UK), Pasi Laurinmäki, the Laboratory Engineer of the UH Cryo-EM facility (FI) as our expert speakers and mentors at this workshop.

 

In true workshop style, the participants were asked to plan and problem solve the analysis of real data, from sample preparation to analysis methodology. The remote students were assigned to small working groups, with a mixture of participants with different experience and from different Institutes.  At the end of each day, the groups had to make a reasoned presentation on the data they had, what did it meant, and what would be the next logical step to proceed with the analysis of their sample.   

 

Our main goal was to promote an interactive remote learning environment, with real data analysis that requested decision making from each working group in order to outline the next steps. 

With this workshop we aimed to provide useful tools for planning Cryo-EM single particle analysis, the pros and cons of each approach, which steps to consider depending on our project goal and sample quality, and to provide tips for troubleshooting. 

As well, we hoped to have supported the network growth of our participants and future collaborations.

 

We thank all mentors and guest speakers for their availability and effort given to this workshop.

And a special thanks to our University of Helsinki partner for putting together an incredible workshop.

 

 

Screenshots of the different sessions and activities developed with the remote students.

 

 

Presentation from Pasi Laurinmäki, the Laboratory Engineer of the University of Helsinki Cryo-EM facility (FI), on the first day Workshop. Pasi Laurinmäki was an invited speaker and mentor at our event.

 

 

Presentation from Shabih Shakeel, from the MCR- Laboratory of Molecular Biology (UK), on the first day of the Workshop. 

 

 

Presentation from Marta Carroni, from the SciLife Lab (SE), and one of members of the IMpaCT Scientific Advisors Board, on the second and fourth day of the Workshop. Marta Carroni was an invited speaker and mentor at our event.

 

 

Screenshots of the different sessions and activities developed with the remote students.