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Facilities and ABSL

World-class research in the Astbury Centre is underpinned by a large amount of cutting-edge equipment and technical support. The research facilities and other equipment are managed by expert staff who provide first-class advice, training, and assistance.

Astbury Biostructure Laboratory

The University of Leeds opened a £17 million in a state-of-the-art laboratory for structural biology in 2017. The facility provides the Centre with instruments for Electron Microscopy and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance that are competitive with the very best in the world. We welcome users from across the Asbury Centre, as well as the wider University, researchers based at other institutions and industry, offering access direct and through schemes such as Instruct and iNEXT discovery.


We are delighted to be offering a wide range of courses for those new to cryoEM as well as those looking to build their knowledge and practical experience. See our training course pages below for more details.

Electron Microscopy

Electron microscopy facilities at the Astbury Biostructure laboratory are used by researchers across the University, with specimens including small proteins and protein complexes, viruses, liposomes, cellular organelles and whole cells.

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy (NMR)

High-resolution NMR allows to elucidate the binding of small molecules and proteins into specific sites of larger biomolecuar assemblies, e.g. multi-domain proteins, on an atomic level.