Instruct PartnerWe are pleased to announce that registration is now open for the I2PC–Instruct Course on Electron Tomography and Subtomogram Averaging, taking place at the National Center for Biotechnology (CNB-CSIC), Madrid, Spain, on December 15–18, 2026.
This four-day training course combines theoretical lectures and hands-on practical sessions covering the main steps of cryo-electron tomography (cryoET) and subtomogram averaging (STA), from tilt-series alignment and tomogram reconstruction to particle picking, subtomogram averaging and segmentation.
Overall Aims and Course Outline
Cryo-electron tomography (cryoET) is a cutting-edge imaging technique that enables the visualisation of three-dimensional structures of biological macromolecules and cellular organelles at nanometer resolution. With this 3D data, scientists can accurately locate macromolecules of interest within the cell and study them in their native state.
Subtomogram averaging (STA) is a crucial method in this field, facilitating the extraction of high-resolution structural information from identified proteins within the tomogram (3D representation of the sample). This course provides participants with the theoretical knowledge and practical skills required to undertake cryoET and STA projects.
Register for the course here.
Cost:
Academic from Instruct Countries: €50
Academic from Non-Instruct Countries: €100
Industrial Participants: €200
Course Programme
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Day 1 - December 15 Introduction to cryoET. Preprocessing from movies to tomograms. |
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| 9:00 | Welcome and flash talk introduction | All |
| 10:00 | Cryo-electron tomography theory | José Luis Vilas |
| 11:00 | Break | |
| 11:30 | Movie Alignment and Tilt Series alignment: fiducial and fiducialless approaches | José Luis Vilas, Jorge Jiménez |
| 13:00 | Lunch | |
| 14:00 | CTF Estimation and Correction | José Luis Vilas |
| 15:00 | Tomogram reconstruction and denoising | José Luis Vilas |
| 16:00 | Break | |
| 16:30 | Etomo | José Luis Vilas |
| 17:30 | End of day | |
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Day 2 - December 16 Particle Picking Methods |
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| 9:30 | Review of Preprocessing and Questions | José Luis Vilas |
| 10:00 | Non-directional picking approaches |
Mikel Iceta, Oier Lauzirika |
| 11:00 | Break | |
| 11:30 | Directional picking approaches |
Mikel Iceta, Oier Lauzirika |
| 13:00 | Lunch | |
| 14:00 | Screening the picked subtomograms |
Mikel Iceta, Oier Lauzirika |
| 16:00 | Break | |
| 16:30 | Screening the picked subtomograms |
Mikel Iceta, Oier Lauzirika |
| 17:30 | End of day | |
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Day 3 - December 17 Subtomogram Averaging Techniques
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| 9:00 | Review of Picking and questions |
Mikel Iceta, Oier Lauzirika |
| 10:00 | Classical subtomogram averaging with Dynamo | Jorge Jiménez |
| 11:00 | Break | |
| 11:30 | Classical subtomogram averaging with Dynamo | Jorge Jiménez |
| 13:00 | Lunch | |
| 14:00 | Subtomogram averaging with RELION | José Luis Vilas |
| 16:00 | Break | |
| 16:30 | Subtomogram averaging with M | José Luis Vilas, Jorge Jiménez |
| 17:30 | End of day | |
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Day 4 - December 18 Tomogram Segmentation, Free Practice and Closing |
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| 9:00 | Review of subtomogram averaging and questions | Jorge Jiménez, José Luis Vilas |
| 10:00 | Tomogram data analysis and representation | Mikel Iceta |
| 11:00 | Break | |
| 11:30 | Manual and automatic tomogram segmentation | Mikel Iceta |
| 13:00 | Lunch | |
| 14:00 | Free practice session | José Luis Vilas, Jorge Jiménez, Mikel Iceta |
| 16:00 | Break | |
| 16:30 | Discussion and closing | |
| 17:30 | End of day | |
