Expansion of the ‘Getting Started in Cryo-EM’ course into a comprehensive theory and practice curriculum

项目摘要 低温电子显微镜(Cryo-EM)是结构生物学领域中一项迅速兴起的技术。而当 人们对这项技术的兴奋和需求很高，培训低温EM从业者的步伐远远落后。 开发有效的培训计划有两个主要障碍：(1)潜在的学习者 来自广泛的背景和职业阶段，从研究生到成熟的结构性 生物学家；以及(2)学习冷冻-EM需要进行数小时的实际操作培训 专业的、昂贵的设备，这些设备通常是本国机构的学习者无法获得的。虽然有些人 针对CryoEM的实践学校已经存在，它们每年只培训少数几个学生，而对 技术需要更多的数量级。研讨会招收更多学生，但时间太短，不能教授所有人 必要的理论和缺乏实际操作的组成部分。为了培养一支技术娴熟的低温EM从业者队伍， 在这里，我提议扩展我的成功的“冷冻EM入门”视频讲座，并创建一个 全面的在线课程，涵盖所有主要低温电磁模式的理论和实践，包括 Cryo-EM单粒子重建(SPR)、电子冷冻断层扫描(Cryo-ET)和微晶电子 衍射(微电子衍射)。本课程将包括数十个小时的新视频和支持 最大限度地发挥这些视频的实用性所需的材料。更具体地说，我和我的同事将 制作新的视频讲授冷冻理论和实践(包括特殊的样本准备问题，如 相关的光学和电子显微镜和低温纤维球磨)、微电子衍射和设备管理/高级 主题。我们还将制作介绍冷冻-EM图像处理基本原理的视频，并准备 学生从我们的材料转到已经提供的几个流行图像的专业教程 正在处理包裹。我们还将创建支持材料，包括作业问题、开放式和 多项选择试题，带有特定标准化练习的培训手册，以及 培训计划。与来自国家低温电磁服务中心的工作人员和我的同行课程一起 发展计划获奖者，我将致力于开发一种“功勋徽章”系统，以认证低温电磁从业人员 关于特定的技能和乐器。材料将设计成可混合和匹配的模块 满足学习者的特定需求。与在用户的家庭设施处的监督培训相结合 国家低温电磁服务中心，课程将提供学生理解理论所需的一切 并开始练习他们想要的冷冻-EM技术。

Project Summary Cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) is a rapidly emerging technology for structural biology. While excitement and demand for the technology are high, the pace of training cryo-EM practitioners lags far behind. There are two major hurdles to the development of effective training programs: (1) potential learners come from a wide range of backgrounds and career stages, from graduate students to established structural biologists; and (2) learning cryo-EM requires many hours of hands-on “behind the wheel” training on specialized, expensive equipment that is often unavailable to learners at their home institutions. While some hands-on schools exist for cryoEM, they train only a handful of students a year, while demand for the technique requires orders of magnitude more. Workshops enroll more students, but are too short to teach all the necessary theory and lack a hands-on component. To train a skilled workforce of cryo-EM practitioners, here I propose to expand upon my successful “Getting Started in Cryo-EM” video lectures and create a comprehensive online curriculum covering the theory and practice of all major cryo-EM modalities including cryo-EM single particle reconstruction (SPR), electron cryotomography (cryo-ET) and microcrystal electron diffraction (micro-ED). This curriculum will include many tens of hours of new videos and also the supporting materials needed to maximize the usefulness of these videos. More specifically, my colleagues and I will produce new videos teaching the theory and practice of cryo-ET (including special sample prep issues like correlated light and electron microscopy and cryo-FIB milling), micro-ED, and facility management/advanced topics. We will also produce videos that introduce basic principles of cryo-EM image processing and prepare students to move from our materials to the specialized tutorials already available for several popular image processing packages. We will also create supporting materials including homework problems, open-ended and multiple-choice exam questions, training manuals with specific standardized practice exercises, and plans for training programs. Together with staff from the national cryo-EM service centers and my fellow curriculum development program awardees, I will work to develop a “merit badge” system to certify cryo-EM practitioners on specific skills and instruments. Materials will be designed in modules that can be mixed and matched to meet the specific needs of the learner. In conjunction with supervised training at a user’s home facility or national cryo-EM service center, the curriculum will offer everything a student needs to understand the theory of, and begin practicing, their desired cryo-EM technique.