Assistant Professor, Anatomy and Cell Biology
E-mail:Ìýjavier.vargasbalbuena [at] mcgill.ca
Research Areas: Cryo-electron microscopy
My research plan proposes the exploration of present frontiers in cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to solve key current limitations at the computational and image processing levels. Currently, this imaging technique is living a revolution in its capacity to provide close-to-atomic resolution structures of macromolecules, and was selected method of the year 2015 by Nature Methods journal. Cryo-EM uses the electron microscope to study nanoscopic biological samples vitrified at cryogenic temperatures in an amorphous ice layer. However, image processing for the analysis of single particles in cryo-EM is still technically challenging. My research focused on developing innovative computational methods to convert cryo-EM into a trustful and high-performance technique.
Lab website:Ìý