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Researchers will be able to investigate a range of active Biological entities to Atomic resolution with a new Cryo-Electron Microscope at the University.
The microscope capable of 1,000,000-times magnification, is the centrepiece of UQ's new Advanced Cryo-Electron Microscopy Facility.
The Facility, part of UQ's Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis (CMM), forms the Queensland node of the Nanostructural Analysis Network Organisation (NANO), a $11.2 million federally funded project linking microscopy centres around the country.
The Facility was officially opened by Linda Lavarch, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for State Development and Innovation (pictured with UQ Vice-Chancellor Professor John Hay, AC).
NANO's aim is to provide advanced capabilities for the characterisation and manipulation of matter at the atomic and molecular levels.
Professor John Drennan, Director of the CMM and Chair of the NANO Scientific Panel, said the Facility, to be housed at UQ's Institute for Molecular Bioscience, would aid research in many different fields.
"We join an exclusive group of centres around the world with these capabilities," Professor Drennan said.
"Projects presently being undertaken include obtaining a three-dimensional picture of pancreatic cells involved in insulin production; the structure of molecules associated with photosynthesis and the possible production of hydrogen; and the internal structure of porous materials associated with catalysts."
He said the microscope, which was partially funded by the Queensland Government ($1.5 million), would allow scientists to understand the interactions which control our health, the transmission of diseases, and even defi ne our thought processes.
"We need to know the structure of the molecules - in other words where each atom group is," Professor Drennan said.
