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Revolutionary 3D Views of Viral RNA Using Cryogenic Electron Microscopy (recording)

SARS-Cov-2 and other RNA viruses are formidable natural foes of humanity. To fight them, we must understand them better, especially their main component, RNA. Although we can sequence viral RNAs to learn their chemical structure, many details of their function depend on their 3-D shape and how this shape helps them fit into a cell’s molecular engines. These structural details were difficult to obtain by traditional methods, but we are now making them visible through a rapidly improving technique called cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM). Cryo-EM has now solved the structure of many RNAs, including important regions of the SARS-CoV-2 virus’s RNA. In this lecture, I will display some of these revolutionary images of viral RNA and explain how we can use this knowledge to combat these lethal pathogens.

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Presented by Rachael Kretsch. SARS-Cov-2 and other RNA viruses are formidable natural foes of humanity. To fight them, we must understand them better, especially their main component, RNA.

video still frame of public lecture about revolutionary 3-D views of viral RNA
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