Cycling scientists cross the country on charity microscope tour

A team of cycling scientists from the Astbury Biostructure Laboratory at the University of Leeds are pedalling across the UK later this month, to raise money for the human rights charity, the International Justice Mission.

During their week-long, 660 mile tour they will be visiting every cryo-electron microscope in the country. The powerful microscopes stand at over three metres tall, and are used to uncover the secrets of the biological molecules that underpin life.

The team is aiming to raise £20,000 for International Justice Mission, a charity working to end modern slavery and protect people from violence in the developing world.

Neil Ranson, Professor of Structural Molecular Biology at the University of Leeds and one of the cycling scientists, said: “We’re grateful to everyone supporting us on this journey. This charity do fantastic work using a model that's proven to work: rescuing people from slavery and prosecuting those who exploit them, across the globe.

“This will be a great opportunity for us to step back from the molecular scale and tour the UK, to take a slightly sweaty look at our friends in the cryo-electron microscopy field.”

Read the full press release on the Faculty of Biological Sciences website