A new lens for success

ABSTRACT

In March 2020, for example, Qiang Zhou, a Westlake structural biologist, used cryo-electron microscopy to solve the structure of the human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), and to show how the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein binds with ACE2 to infect human cells (R. Yan et al. [...]the university's cryo-electron microscopy centre opened in late 2018 with two high-end 300 kV instruments, and a plan to become the biggest such centre in China by installing a further four. Unlike the Austrian research establishment, which is "very traditional, with the emphasis on big professorial chairs", says Henzinger, IST, like Westlake, operates more along Anglo-American lines, based on tenure-track appointments (which are rare in continental Europe) and relatively small, independent research groups.