Daniel Zhang

Thesis Title: Developing tools for high-throughput in situ structural investigation in human tissue

Franklin Supervisor: Dr Michael Grange

University: University of Oxford

As methods to perform in situ structural biology such as electron cryo-tomography advance, focus is turning increasingly towards the most biologically relevant conditions – in complexity from purified proteins to tissues and whole organisms, as well as in model applicability from in vitro reconstitution to native human pathology. Daniel’s project aims to develop methods to streamline structural and ultrastructural characterisation of neurodegeneration by cryo-volume EM techniques directly in human tissue samples.

Daniel graduated with an integrated master’s in Natural Sciences from the University of Exeter. During his final year project, he characterised a novel archaeal virus by cryo-ET and cryo-EM, kick-starting his passion for structural biology. He also spent 6 months as a Scientific Assistant at ETH Zürich, working on structural investigation of microtubules and microtubule-adjacent proteins using cryo-EM. Daniel hopes to further his experience with these techniques alongside the excellent resources and expertise at the Franklin.