Skip to main content

Projects

As a scientific user facility, the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL) provides expertise, instrumentation, and resources to 250 projects each year. 

EMSL projects displayed on the EMSL web site project page reflect project abstracts and information migrated to this page before April 30, 2024. To review current and past EMSL user projects, visit EMSL Science Central.™ 

 

Cryo-EM Analysis of TcdB in Complex with Host Cell Receptors

Lead Institution
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Principal Investigator
Dana Lacy
Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is responsible for the majority of hospital acquired diarrhea cases reported in the United States. The pathology of CDI relies on the activity of three…

Structural Mechanisms of Renal Sensory and Transport Proteins

Lead Institution
University of Utah
Principal Investigator
Erhu Cao
The kidneys regulate blood composition, pressure, and volume, balance electrolytes and acid-base, and reabsorb most salts and nutrients from the initial renal filtrate while excreting metabolic…

Structural Basis of Voltage-Gating in Eukaryotic Potassium Channels

Lead Institution
University of Chicago
Principal Investigator
Eduardo Perozo
Voltage-gated potassium (Kv) channels determine the resting membrane potential in eukaryotic cells, and thus control cellular excitability, cell volume and cell division. Aberrant potassium channel…

Atomic Structure of the Nuclear Pore Complex

Lead Institution
California Institute of Technology
Principal Investigator
Andre Hoelz
The nuclear pore complex (NPC) is the sole gateway for the transport of macromolecules between the nucleus and cytoplasm. NPCs are large (~120 MDa in humans) macromolecular assemblies embedded in the…

Fabrication and Characterization of Functional Nanostructured Materials

Lead Institution
University of California, San Diego
Principal Investigator
Sungho Jin
Project type
Exploratory Research
Recent years have witnessed the rapid progress in the fabrication of functional nanostructured materials. We have succeeded in making a variety of nanomaterials including nanoparticles, multiwalled…

Mechanistic elucidation of inflammasome biology

Lead Institution
Boston Children's Hospital
Principal Investigator
Hao Wu
Innate immunity comprises ancient and evolutionarily conserved biological pathways that are imperative for the recognition of pathogens and endogenous damage. One such major signaling pathway…

Structure and function of the Gbeta5-CCT complex

Lead Institution
University of Utah
Principal Investigator
Peter Shen
The cytosolic chaperonin CCT is a large, 1 MDa protein folding machine that plays a central role in maintaining the cellular proteome. CCT contributes to proteome homeostasis by assisting in the…

Cryo-EM of the disease mutant p97 bound with its cofactor p47

Lead Institution
Arizona State University
Principal Investigator
Po-Lin Chiu
Mutation in p97/VCP (valosin-containing protein), an ATPase associated with diverse cellular activities, has been implicated in IBMPFD/ALS, which currently does not have an effective medical…

Structural Characterization of Schistosome Vault Particles

Lead Institution
University of Chicago
Principal Investigator
Minglei Zhao
Schistosomiasis is a disease caused by parasitic flatworm schistosome, and affects about 252 million people each year. In tropical countries, schistosomiasis is second only to malaria among parasitic…

OmniScreen

Lead Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Principal Investigator
Becky Cox-Hess
We propose OmniScreen, a four stage end-to-end platform for discovery of pathogenic signatures and early detection of novel pathogens in complex environmental samples. First, OmniScreen will…