%0 Thesis
%9 Doctoral
%A Ing, Gabriel
%B Chemistry
%D 2024
%F discovery:10189770
%I UCL (University College London)
%K Electron Microscopy, Liquid-phase Electron Microscopy, Transmission Electron Microscopy
%P 239
%T Development of Liquid-phase Transmission Electron Microscopy for the study of Proteins and Peptides
%U https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10189770/
%X Liquid-phase transmission electron microscopy (LTEM) is a powerful technique to  study the dynamics of molecular processes occurring in real-time. While the technique  is becoming increasingly established in inorganic and metal-containing systems, the  next frontier of LTEM is the study of organic and biological material at the molecular  level. In this project, I have worked on establishing LTEM as an effective imaging  method to image biomolecules. To this end, I have imaged several control proteins  including ferritin, β-galactosidase and apoferritin, with a variety of state-of-the-art  LTEM systems. This project has proved highly challenging due to a combination of low  inherent contrast, radiation sensitivity of the proteins and fast motion of the particles.  Alongside the imaging of single proteins, an applied study of the aggregation of  amyloid-β peptide was also performed, yielding interesting data on the nucleation of  amyloid-β oligomers and fibrils, as well as demonstrations of phase separation. The  work on amyloid-β demonstrates the advantages of imaging large-scale systems with  LTEM, despite the challenges associated with imaging individual proteins. Finally, this  thesis also details the development of the Python library SimpliPyTEM to aid with  image processing and analysis of electron microscopy images and videos. Overall, the  work herein details the development of LTEM as a method for imaging biological  molecules, alongside a discussion of the limitations and future of the technique.
%Z Copyright © The Author 2023. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request.