Conferences

Electron Tomography Conference to be Held in San Diego

The Fourth International Congress on Electron Tomography, to be held in San Diego in 2006, will feature symposia and poster presentations addressing the increasing importance of electron tomography in exploring structures on a mesoscale. Researchers from the local San Diego community, including NCMIR, the Burnham Institute, the Salk Institutes, The Scripps Research Institute and The Neurosciences Institute, will participate.

When the first congress took place in Schloss Ringberg in Germany in 1997, electron tomography was a time-consuming technique practiced by a small group of researchers. By the second Congress in Amsterdam in 2001, electron tomography had emerged as an established technique for obtaining 3D images from electron microscopes. This Congress plans to continue the resounding success generated by the third conference, held at the Wadsworth Center in New York in May 2004.

The Journal of Structural Biology, which dedicated a special issue to the field [Volume 138(1,2)], acknowledged that such conferences “intensify the already rapid development of electron tomography.” But many challenges remain. This fourth conference will address those challenges through discussions and poster presentations from experts illustrating a variety of techniques. Formal and informal discussions promise to spark a lively exchange of ideas in this growing field.