The Advanced Structural Biology Research in Infectious Disease program (ASTRID) is a multidisciplinary research group that aims to address the global burden of infectious disease. Spanning the major academic research institutions of BC, ASTRID is committed to providing a connected network for structural biology infrastructure access to promote infectious disease research across multiple resolution scales from in vitro to in situ. Since its inception in 2007, the ASTRID team has grown to include diverse BC structural and microbiology experts, from emerging talents to seasoned investigators across the province’s five leading research institutions, UBC, UBC Okanagan, SFU, UVic, and UNBC. ASTRID is dedicated to unraveling the molecular underpinnings of infectious disease and advancing structure-guided therapies. The team has a wealth of expertise in sample preparation and cutting-edge techniques such as single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) coupled with Focused Ion Beam Milling, X-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and various leading edge mass spectrometry methods (MS). Coupled with these are further strengths in genetics, proteomics, lipidomics, in vitro and cellular assays and structure-guided antimicrobial discovery targeting pathogens of pressing importance to Canada and globally including those of bacterial, viral and fungal origins.

ASTRID is driving innovation in infectious disease research by offering leading-edge instrumentation for structural biology.

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