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Introduction to Cryo-Electron Microscopy Facility at Korea Basic Science Institute. Jaekyung Hyun1, 2*, Hyeongseop Jeong1, and Hyun-Ju Lee1 1 Division of Electron Microscopy Research, Korea Basic Science Institute, Cheongju-si, Chungcheongbuk-do 28119, Republic of Korea, 2Department of Bio-analytical Science, Korea University of Science and Technology, Daejeon 305-350 Republic of Korea Recently, single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) has emerged as a mainstream structural biology technique, as evidenced by being selected as “Method of the Year 2015” in Nature Methods [1]. This remarkable development gained additional momentum by recent structure determination of large protein complexes to near-atomic resolution (<3Å) from which side chains of amino acid could be identified, hence allowing for de novo atomic structural analysis [2]. Ever since the first demonstration of 3D reconstruction from 2D projection of transmission electron microscope (TEM) in 1968 [3], the field has been steadily growing. Current success of cryo-EM has been led by pioneering groups in Europe, USA and Japan, where cooperative academia-industry R&D, thorough theoretical evaluations and ingenious practical experiments took place. In Korea, however, the field has been largely unnoticed until recent flood of high-profile publications by cryo-EM studies. Therefore, mandatory research infrastructure for cryo-EM studies, including high-end instruments and expertise, is far behind many leading groups in the world. Fortunately, the first highperformance TEM that is dedicated to high-resolution cryo-EM work (Titan Krios, FEI Co. with direct electron detector) has been installed at Korea Basic Science Institute in 2016 March. While issues related to the number of experts and data process scheme remains to be resolved, efficient management of the facility and earnest collaborations should lead to a prompt establishment of cryo-EM field in Korea. Here, we present major features of the newly installed TEM, management scheme and future plans for better research support, hoping to provide an “open” environment where structural biologists may freely utilize our facility. [1] E. Nogales Nature Methods, 13 (1), 24, 2016. [2] A. Bartesaghi, A. Merk, S. Banerjee, D. Matthies, X. Wu, J.L.S. Milne and S. Subramaniam Science, 348 (6239), 1147, 2015. [3] D.J. De Rosier and A. Klug Nature, 217, 130, 1968. Keywords: cryo-electron microscopy, single particle analysis, transmission electron microscope