Dr. Ortiz, made his undergraduate studies and also his doctorate in Biology at the Simon Bolivar University in Venezuela. His doctoral Thesis was done the Max-Planck Institute of Medical Research in Heidelberg (Germany), where he started to work in cryo-electron microscopy. Since 2000, he works in the Dept. of Dr. W. Baumeister at the Max-Planck Institute of Biochemistryas project leader. Dr. Ortiz is an expert in cryo-electron tomography. In particular he applies this method for the structural description of macromolecular complexes in complex systems, as lysates or whole cells. In the last decade, his work has been focused in the analysis of 70S ribosomes supramolecular organizations, such as polysomes or the resting ribosome pairs (100S). The main interest of his research is to reveal biological significant molecular associations occurring in the native environment of cell. In this sense, he has contributed to a series of recent developments in the area of cryo-electron microscopy that can be applied to cells to gain information of their molecular inventory. In his talk, Dr. Ortiz will present the basic principles of CET and associated techniques, i.e. the Focused Ion Beam technology (FIB), which allows the application of CET to thick specimens. New insights into the 3D organization of ribosomes in E.coli will be presentedl.
PORTO 9-11 SEPTEMBER 2015
mfs2015 MICROSCOPY AT THE FRONTIERS OF SCIENCE