{
  "abstract": "Specimen preparation is a critical and rate-limiting step in cryo-EM structural analysis, primarily due to challenges posed by the air-water interface. In this study, we introduce carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as a one-dimensional fibrous support material to address this issue. CNTs interact with macromolecules, effectively protecting them from air-water interfaces, and macromolecules arrange themselves around CNTs in various orientations. Furthermore, CNTs biofunctionalized with affinity tags exhibit strong specificity in binding target macromolecules, facilitating direct purification of targets from cell lysates and on-grid assembly of complexes for subsequent cryo-EM analysis. We also demonstrate that CNT grids are compatible with cell culturing, allowing for seamless integration into the cryo-EM characterization workflow for cellular structures. We anticipate that these properties will make the CNT network a promising support for cryo-EM.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.",
    "Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Protein Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.",
    "Beijing Frontier Research Center for Biological Structures, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.",
    "State Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Quantum Physics, Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.",
    "Frontier Science Center for Quantum Information, Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.",
    "State Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Quantum Physics, Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. yzkk@tsinghua.edu.cn.",
    "Frontier Science Center for Quantum Information, Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. yzkk@tsinghua.edu.cn.",
    "Tsinghua-Peking Joint Center for Life Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.",
    "School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.",
    "School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.",
    "School of Biological Sciences, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. nanliu@hku.hk."
  ],
  "article_type": "research support, non u.s. gov't",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 13,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Jiling Song",
      "orcid": "0009-0007-9297-584X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Zhengni Wang",
      "orcid": "0009-0000-5157-4029"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3,
        4
      ],
      "name": "Duanliang Zhou"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5,
        6
      ],
      "name": "Zi Yuan",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-9039-4856"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        2,
        7
      ],
      "name": "Xia Jia"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        2,
        7
      ],
      "name": "Xiaopeng Li"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        8
      ],
      "name": "Chenhui Zhang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        7,
        9
      ],
      "name": "Yongbo Liu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        7,
        9
      ],
      "name": "Yu Rao",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4356-8531"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Dongju Wang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3,
        4
      ],
      "name": "Kaili Jiang",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1547-5848"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        2,
        7
      ],
      "name": "Hong-Wei Wang",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-9494-8780"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        10
      ],
      "name": "Nan Liu",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-4102-2428"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2wnjv7a11fc81.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1038/s41467-026-77953-8",
  "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13686963",
  "id": "2wnjv7a11fc81",
  "issns": [
    "2041-1723"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42907436",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "1315|Advanced Electron Microscopy Techniques and Applications"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7213907100",
  "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13686963?pdf=render",
  "pmcid": "PMC13686963",
  "pmid": "42907436",
  "published": "2026-09-21",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2wnjv7a11fc81.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:57Z",
      "native_id": "MED:42907436",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42907436"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biochemistry",
      "origin": "openalex:1315|Advanced Electron Microscopy Techniques and Applications",
      "subfield": "structural-biology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Carbon nanotubes as the supporting film for cryo-EM specimen preparation.",
  "title_text": "Carbon nanotubes as the supporting film for cryo-EM specimen preparation.",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:19:57Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2wnjv7a11fc81",
  "venue": "Nature communications",
  "versions": []
}