MBS Seminar - How Cryo-EM Reveals Macromolecular Mechanisms

Title: How Cryo-EM Reveals Macromolecular Mechanisms

Speaker: A/Prof Gökhan Tolun, University of Wollongong

Bio: Gökhan received his B.S. in biology and M.Sc. in biotechnology from METU, Turkey. He then moved to US and got his PhD degree from the department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Miami, FL. His next move was to North Carolina for joining UNC Chapel Hill for his postdoctoral training on electron microscopic imaging of macromolecular complexes. Continuing his move towards North, he then moved to Maryland to join NIH (National Institutes of Health), the largest biomedical research institution in the world, for his cryo-EM (cryogenic electron microscopy) training. Finally, he overcompensated for his move towards North by moving to Australia to join the University of Wollongong (UOW). He is a teaching/research academic in the school now called School of Science and established his independent research program as a cryo-EM research group leader in the Molecular Horizons Research Institute (MH). His biological interest is studying bio-nano-machines carrying out processes involving nucleic acids (DNA and RNA). His research has been published in high-impact journals and featured in public media outlets, such as newspapers, radio and websites (news, blog, podcast). Gökhan also serves in various governance roles: he is elected to both UOW Council and the Academic Senate, and serves as the UOW node leader for ARC Training Centre for Cryo-Electron Microscopy of Membrane Proteins for Drug Discovery (CCeMMP), in addition to various other roles.