살아있는 세포를 ‘스냅샷’ 찍듯 관찰하는 기초과학연구원(IBS, 원장 노도영)의 초저온 전자현미경(Cryo-EM)이 분야 연구자들이 가장 선호하는 장비로 평가됐다.
Enhancing national basic science competitiveness through joint use of large-scale research infrastructure
The cryo-electron microscope (Cryo-EM) of the Institute for Basic Science (IBS, President Do-Young Noh), which observes living cells as if taking a 'snapshot', has been evaluated as the most preferred equipment by researchers in the field.
The Korea Cryo-EM Users Association (KOCUA) announced on the 17th that IBS' Cryo-EM has been ranked first as the equipment preferred by domestic researchers for three consecutive years.
Cryo-EM is an electron microscope that precisely observes biological samples by freezing them in a solution at an ultra-low temperature close to -200℃.
It has a resolution that is thousands of times higher than that of a general optical microscope using light as a light source. It can elucidate the three-dimensional structure of biomolecules such as freely moving proteins and viruses at the atomic level. The researchers who developed Cryo-EM were awarded the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their contribution to changing the paradigm of biochemical research.
Currently, in Korea, only nine institutions, including IBS, Korea Basic Science Institute (KBSI), Seoul National University, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), and Pusan National University, operate specialized analysis centers utilizing Cryo-EM technology.
The reason IBS' Cryo-EM is highly rated in terms of preference is because it has established an operational strategy focused on the needs of researchers and has deployed skilled professional personnel. IBS has introduced both high-resolution equipment with an acceleration voltage of 300 kV and low-resolution equipment with an acceleration voltage of 200 kV to enable researchers to utilize the equipment efficiently in response to rapidly increasing demand. In addition, it has launched a research solution center to operate a joint use service for specialized research equipment.
The IBS Research Solutions Center Imaging Analysis Resource Facility operates nine high-performance microscopes, including a Cryo-EM, and a flow cytometer (equipment for measuring cell characteristics).
This year, we plan to introduce the 'Imaging Flow Cytometry System', a cutting-edge complex platform that combines a fluorescence microscope and a flow cytometer, and begin service in the second half of the year.
Launched in 2020, the IBS Research Solutions Center consists of three research facilities: imaging analysis resources, high-performance computing resources, and experimental animal resources. Over the three years since its launch, over 100 papers using the Research Solutions Center’s equipment have been published in renowned international journals, including ‘Science’ and ‘Nature,’ playing a leading role in the basic science ecosystem.
The ultra-high-performance computing resource facility operates supercomputers Aleph and Olaf. Aleph is the fifth-largest computing resource in Korea with a CPU-based calculation capacity of 1,437 petaflops (PF), and is used for basic scientific research in climate physics, theoretical physics, and computational science. Olaf was newly listed on the Top500.org, a global non-profit organization, in November, and achieved 10th place in the world in energy efficiency (Green500) at the same time as its listing.
The experimental animal resource facility is a rodent animal testing facility with a total area of 4,835㎡, and is ranked 5th in scale in Korea. It can accommodate up to 30,000 mice, and is maintained and managed as a specific pathogen-free (SPF) animal testing facility to ensure the reproducibility and reliability of animal testing results. Along with breeding, it provides support for breeding techniques such as in vitro fertilization, freezing and restoration of reproductive cells, and self-health monitoring to manage SPF animals in optimal conditions. In particular, it has facilities for various experiments such as cognitive ability and behavioral assessment of laboratory animals, biological cycle experiments, and gene editing, as well as experimental facilities that can even perform brain surgery.
Director Noh Do-young said, “The Research Solutions Center is a large-scale research facility built by IBS to establish core basic science infrastructure and a national research hub,” and added, “We plan to gradually build additional large-scale research facilities and equipment needed by internal and external researchers in the future, thereby contributing greatly to the advancement of basic science at home and abroad.”