The phrase seeing is believing doesn’t just apply to supernatural phenomenon; biochemists often say the same thing when imaging proteins or other molecules for the first time.
Imaging is a powerful tool in many biochemists’ repertoire. The Department of Biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison is home to a large collection of equipment and facilities, including the Biochemistry Optical Core (BOC) and upcoming UW–Madison cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) facility, that allows scientists to pursue their many imaging endeavors. The department’s goal is simple: to provide faculty, researchers, and students from the department and all across campus with access to these resources and the training to operate them, even if they’ve never used them before.
Elle Kielar-Grevstad, the director of the BOC and supervisor to the department’s core facility staff, serves to promote and facilitate the department’s mission by helping researchers with their light and fluorescent microscopy needs.
“Imaging is really capturing a state of being,” she says. “That can mean a lot of things depending on what resolution you require. Whether you are looking at a whole animal, a tissue, a single cell, or a single protein, you’re still capturing a state of being, or in many cases multiple states of being. Your research question will determine the resolution requirements and that in turn dictates what type of equipment you need. The great thing about all the core facilities at Biochemistry is that we can likely help you meet your imaging or experimental needs, and if we can’t, it is our job to connect you with others on campus that can.”
Learn more about Biochemistry’ imaging capabilities and how students can access these resources at the link below.