How Cells Trigger Inflammation - The Stanford-SLAC Cryo-EM Center

In new research, scientists at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory used the Stanford-SLAC Cryo-EM Center to capture, for the first time, the formation of an immune signaling complex inside intact human cells. The team used cryo-electron tomography, a technique that allows researchers to generate 3D reconstructions of cellular structures preserved in a frozen state. The method makes it possible to observe molecular assemblies inside cells at extremely high resolution.