The Scottish Macromolecular Imaging Centre (SMIC)

为了了解生命和疾病的过程，了解生物分子的形状是很重要的。沃森和克里克在理解DNA结构方面的开创性工作，彻底改变了我们对性状以基因形式从父母传给孩子的机制的认识。苏格兰有一个繁荣的结构生物学家社区，他们致力于研究蛋白质和DNA分子的形状、它们的相互作用和功能。过去几年出现了一种强大的新技术；低温电子显微镜。这使得科学家们能够记录集合的图像，例如病毒或酶——在细胞内执行重要任务的分子机器。这些图像可以在计算机中处理，以确定物体在原子水平上的结构。这些结构告诉我们生物过程是如何发生的。苏格兰大分子成像中心是一家世界级的低温成像研究机构，由苏格兰大学格拉斯哥、爱丁堡、邓迪和圣安德鲁斯合作成立。它作为一个专家科学家网络的中心，促进新的合作和培训项目，以确保科学卓越和新一代高技能的年轻结构生物学家。”

To understand the processes of life and disease, it is important to understand the shapes of biological molecules. Watson and Crick's ground-breaking work to understand the structure of DNA revolutionised our knowledge of the mechanisms by which traits are passed from parent to child in the form of genes.Scotland has a thriving community of structural biologists engaged in research to understand the shapes of protein and DNA molecules, their interactions and functions. A powerful new technique has emerged in the past few years; cryogenic electron microscopy (CryoEM). This allows scientists to record images of assemblies, such as viruses or enzymes - the molecular machines that perform vital tasks within the cell. These images can be processed in the computer to determine the structureof the objects at the atomic level. These structures then inform our understanding of how biological processes occur.The Scottish Macromolecular Imaging Centre is a world-class cryoEM research facility, founded by a partnership of Scottish Universities - Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and St. Andrews. It acts as a hub for a network of expert scientists, fostering new collaborations and training programmes to ensure scientific excellence and a new generation of highly skilled young structural biologists."