Instruct-NL Annual Report Highlights and New Technologies
Instruct-NL makes available high-end research facilities to Instruct-ERIC researchers from academia and the private sector. They do this with the high-field NMR facility at the Bijvoet Centre for Biomolecular Research from Utrecht University, the national facility for high-end electron nanoscopy - NeCEN - at Leiden University, and the NKI Protein Facility at the Division of Biochemistry of the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam. All these facilities are hosted by expert research groups and are well recognised in an excellent national and international academic environment. Find out more about the facilities and apply for access to the technologies here.
Technological Advances in 2022
In 2022, the NKI Protein Facility invested in a new cell line to expand their portfolio of protein production services. They established a protocol for the production of recombinant proteins in High Five insect cells in addition to sf9 cells. These High Five cells are well-known for their high expression levels of secreted proteins and in some cases also show enhanced protein levels compared to those in sf9 cells. A secreted protein and an intracellular protein were both produced and purified from the two cell lines. With the availability of the High Five cells the facility hopes to further improve and extend the quantity and quality of their protein production pipeline.
Protein expression levels in sf9 versus High Five insect cells.
Dutch Structural Biology Activities
Instruct Biennial Structural Biology Conference
Instruct-NL organised the 2022 Instruct-ERIC Biennial Structural Biology Conference. The event took place on May 19 and 20 in the monumental Munt-building in Utrecht, and attracted over 250 structural biologists globally. After the meeting had initially been cancelled in 2021, for many researchers this turned out to be the first in-person event after almost two years of Corona-related travel restrictions. Together the participants enjoyed great presentations from Instruct-ERIC Centre staff and others on exciting structural biology developments and new applications. The event was preceded by the Instruct-ERIC Manager's Meeting and Centre's Forum on May 18th at the NKI in Amsterdam.
Biennial Structural Biology Conference, held in Utrecht, Netherlands
Cryo-EM seminars and the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek exhibition “Onvoorstelbaar”
In 2022, the NeCEN facility restarted their monthly cryo-EM seminar series that was interrupted during the corona pandemic. To kick off this series, they organised a symposium with prominent speakers from the cryo-EM field. This included Martin Pilhofer (ETH Zürich) as keynote speaker, renowned for his cryo-Electron Tomography work. In addition, NeCEN received several speakers from the Dutch cryo-EM community that presented their latest research highlights at the exhibition “Onvoorstelbaar” in the well-known Boerhaave Museum in Leiden. The exhibition, in English “Unimaginable”, showcases the advances in microscopy since the time of Antoni van Leeuwenhoek 350 years ago. The nearby NeCEN facility is present via display images, an interview with staff scientist Willem Noteborn and with co-director Ariane Briegel about cryo-EM at NeCEN, and a movie based on research done at the facility called “Treponema through the ages”. Treponema, one of the first bacteria that has been imaged by Leeuwenhoek is still subject of current research. In the movie, the detailed insights from cryo-ET are highlighted that gave novel insight into the chemosensing and motility apparatus of this pathogen.
