All Centrifuges - Centrifuge Machines

The time just before a breakthrough can be tough. Kelly Nguyen has difficulty sleeping – she is completely absorbed, and she would prefer to work nonstop. Finally, the time has come. In the laboratory, the pieces of the puzzle, collected over many years of work, come together naturally. Looking at it this way, it is probably a good thing that her work is slow and arduous, instead of robbing her of her sleep on a weekly basis.Finding the inner core – taking one good look deep inside the cell and understanding what makes such a system tick – Kelly Nguyen is practically gripped by this mission. Since she began working on her doctoral thesis in 2010, the now 34-year-old has been pursuing the visualization of biological molecules. The technological breakthroughs in the cryo-electron microscopy field in 2013 meant to her what the invention of the telescope in the 17th century must have meant to astronomers: a milestone, and the basis for entirely new insights.

Two genius discoveries
In 2015, it helped her achieve her first large breakthrough: she was able to determine the three-
dimensional structure of a major part of the spliceosome. Thus far, this complex molecule had only been partially explored. Inside the cell, the molecule plays a role during the complicated RNA splicing process. And recently, in her most recent breakthrough, she successfully visualized the enzyme telomerase. In human cells, it restores the ends of the chromosomes – the telomeres. More on both topics later.This discovery has the potential to benefit many future patients suffering from cancer or from illnesses related to premature aging. “This new knowledge about the three-
dimensional structure will allow, for example, the development of more precise medications for cancer”, hopes Nguyen. After all, telomerase plays a role in 85 to 90 percent of all cancers whereas a telomerase deficiency is connected to syndromes of premature aging.