Physicist graduated from the Universities of Delft and Groningen, with a strong focus on theoretical optics. PhD in Biophysics in Groningen, where he developed new research methods in structural analysis of biomolecules by electron microscopy, which today is known as “Cryo-EM”. He was the founder and first Director of the Imperial College Center for Structural Biology (IC-CSB; 1997), and founder and Director of the Imperial College Center for Biomolecular Electron Microscopy (CBEM, 1997). He organized the first “Brazil School for Single Particle Cryo-EM” which has occurred 8 times since 2005. He is a co-PI of the FAPESP Project for the new LNNano / CNPEM center in Cryo-EM. Marin van Heel received the Ernst Ruska Award for Electron Microscopy in 1985, and the 2017 Wiley Award for Biomedical Sciences for “Pioneering Developments in Electron Microscopy”, (with Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson). He was one of the main developers of the single particle Cryo-EM electron microscopy techniques, in use around the world today. Most of these new techniques were implemented in the context of the IMAGIC software package (1981). An important achievement was the introduction of techniques of “Multivariate Statistical Analysis” (MSA) in the methodology of analysis of isolated particles in (1980/1981). In “multi-reference” (1986), these techniques allowed the study of randomly oriented particles. The studies extended to the third dimension with the introduction of the 3D reconstruction “Exact Filter” (1986). Finding the orientations of particles or class averages became possible with the introduction of “Projection Matching” (1984), and especially the “Angular Reconstitution” approach (1987). The first 3D reconstructions from random orientations appeared in 1994/1995. One of his research focuses has always been the study of biological complexes in specific functional states. The first such study on a ribosomal complex in a specific functional state (E. coli70S in complex with EF-Tu, Nature, 1997) One of the most spectacular results was the reconstruction of the 3D structure of the 70S deE. Coliem complex with RF3 (Nature, 2004). These works were pioneers in Cryo-EM of isolated particles.

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