Our Lab

Upcoming Events

We are delighted to share the announcement of the 6th International Conference on Three-Dimensional Cryo-EM Image Analysis, to be held March 18–21, 2026, at the Granlibakken Conference Center in Lake Tahoe, California. This 2026 meeting continues the tradition of our engaging and collaborative gatherings in 2014, 2016, 2018, 2022, and 2024.

https://sites.google.com/view/image-analysis-3dem-2026/home

This conference brings together researchers and software developers for in-depth, open discussions on emerging image analysis methods and algorithmic advances addressing challenging biological questions. Each session is designed to foster lively interaction, with plenty of time for questions and exchange of ideas.

The 2026 program will feature an exciting lineup of speakers and sessions, including:
• Compositional and conformational variability in vitro and in situ
• Automation, modeling, and validation in cryo-EM and cryo-ET
• Tomogram segmentation and interpretation
• Round-table discussion on Deep Learning and Community Innovation (Kaggle/SHREC)
• Keynote Address: Professor Bridget Carragher (CZII)
• A session of selected short talks from poster presenters. Poster abstracts are due by February 15, 2026, to be included in the program and considered for short talks.

Granlibakken tends to reach capacity well before the registration deadline, so we encourage early registration. .

We look forward to seeing you in beautiful Lake Tahoe and to another inspiring meeting of our cryo-EM community.

Dorit Hanein, Chair
Steven Ludtke, Co-Chair

Organizing Committee: Masahide Kikkawa, Jose Maria Carazo, Niels Volkmann, Ed Egelman, and Slavica Jonic

Conferences/Symposiums

8th Annual SoCal Cryo-EM Symposium (UCSB)

Rowan, Peter, and Pierre manning the check-in booth in matching T-shirts
Symposium check-in table
SoCal Symposium lunch
Hanein lab dinner at Symposium
SoCal Symposium dinner at sunset

5th International Symposium on Cryo-3D Image Analysis 2024 (Tahoe)

Group picture next to lake Tahoe. Armel, Peter, Rowan, Kelly, Pierre.
Group picture next to lake Tahoe. Peter, Pierre, Rowan, Kelly.
Lake Tahoe
Pierre and Peter next to posters
Peter's poster
Pierre's poster
Lake Tahoe
Lake Tahoe
Peter and Pierre next to lake Tahoe
Peter and Pierre at hike summit looking out at Lake Tahoe
Views of lake Tahoe along hike

9th Annual SoCal Cryo-EM Symposium (USC)

Group of Hanein Lab symposium attendees wearing matching shirts from previous year
Lunchtime shenanigans

Undergraduate Research Expo

Mark and Nina 2024!

Mark and Nina with their poster!
selfie!
talking to crowd
more crowd talking
presenting work

Mark's Gene and Lucas Fund Presentation

Mark and his presentation!
Mark's headshot

Jennifer and Julie's Undergraduate Research Expo 2025 Presentation

Jennifer with poster
Julie with poster

Elaina's RACACON Presentation Nov 8, 2025

Elaina with poster
poster alone
Elaina with poster

Training/Workshops

UCI iPSC Culturing Hands-on Course

April 2024

Outside group photo. Center is instructor Christina Tu
Group photo inside cell lab
Silly group photo
Ahmet feeds cells
Ahmet aspirates media
Pierre checks cells under microscope
Christina Tu looks at cells with Pierre
Christina Tu looks at cells with Pierre
Many culture plates were used
induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPSC) Colonies
Embryo bodies (spheres of iPSCs)
Plated embryo body pushed toward the neuronal lineage displaying neural rosettes
Neurons derived from stem cells
Microglia consuming fluorescent neurons

Activities Gallery

Visitors and Group Dinners

First group dinner with Armel Bezault and Cecile Sauvanet from Pasteur
Armel, Cecile, Liam, and Peter getting dressed for the clean room
Dinner with Armel, Cecile, and Niels Volkmann
Dinner with Ken Taylor
Group holiday dinner 2023
Lunch with Rong Li
Lunch with David DeRosier
Sue visiting

Halloween Pumpkin Carving 2023

Peter VanBlerkom won first place in the DCB pumpkin carving contest with his creative, googly-eyed masterpiece

Pumpking carving contest with the Chemistry department
Victory
A rare photo of Dorit wearing green socks (her halloween costume)
The winning pumpkin
A fellow cowboy was encountered and a quickdraw dual was had. Peter won!

Halloween Pumpkin Carving 2024

Rowan, Ahmet, and Peter in costume
Rowan, Ahmet, and Peter in costume
Ahmet dressed as soccer player
Ahmet dressed as soccer player
Peter dressed as a calavera (skeleton)
Peter dressed as a calavera (skeleton)
Rowan dressed as a clown
Carving our pumpkin with a scalpel
Carving our pumpkin
Carving our pumpkin
Our pumpkin (left)
Several labs submitted pumpkins
The contest was well attended
Food was provided
Many members of Hanein lab came
Several others also dressed in costume
Many members of Hanein lab came
Rowan and Peter in costume
Rowan recieved a balloon animal from SciTrek to match their costume
Clown in lab

Extras

Just us having fun

The dry shipper enjoying its vacation in Santa Barbara
The dry shipper soaking up the rays before being shipped back to France
How we sent the dry shipper back
Peter, Pierre, and Rowan in our clean room suits
Pierre in the clean room
Spring Cleaning 2024
Six Flags Magic Mountain with Rowan, Sue (visiting from Australia), and Trent Lewellyn
Rowan, Sue, and Trent on the Viper
Waiting for the bus at the end of the day

Lab Tour Gallery

Inauguration November 2023

Lab Under Construction

CHEM 1126

Counter refinishing before sanding
Counter refinishing before sanding
Fresh benchtops before floor installation
Fresh benchtops before floor installation
The drip
Fixing the drip
The leaky pipe
More work on the pipe
Trying to stay dry
The tiny fan tasked with keeping the lab dry in the meantime
The pipe is fixed!
Finishing touches
Break room before renovation
Break room before renovation
Dorit's future office door before renovation
Break room nearly finished
Break room nearly finished

Lab Move-In

CHEM 1126

Final walkthrough!
Finished Lab
Finished Lab
Storage room on the 4th floor
About 20 crates were moved from the 4th floor to the 1st
Moving crates
Move-in
Move-in
Move-in
Move-in
Move-in
Move-in
Move-in
Move-in
Crates in microscope area
Microscope and Ultramicrotome
Empty pallets
-80 freezer
Move-in
Decorative EM grid bunting from Quantifoil
Holiday Decor
Holiday Decor
Moving laminar flow hood

UC Santa Barbara, Structural Biology cryo-Electron Microscopy (SB²EM) Facility

CHEM 1153

Microscope room filled with ducting
Microscope room Dorit shows technician where things will go
Microscope room under construction
Microscope room before floor
Microscope room during floor installation
Microscope room during floor installation
Microscope room after floor installation
Microscope room nearly finished
Microscope room with protected floors
Microscope room
Server room
Starting to move into the microscope room
Using tape to plan out the instruments
Using tape to plan out the instruments
Drilling the guide holes where the TEM will go
Microscope blueprints
Accessory boxes unpacked
Flooding of the facility from roof leak
Flooding of facility from roof leak
The sign for the room. Facility is ready for microscope installation
installation team!

Glacios Installation

CHEM 1153

Room testing before installation
The moving team inspecting the Glacios boxes at their temporary storage in physics
Truck to transport across campus
Loading the truck
Loading the truck
Tilt watch to ensure column remains aligned during shipping
Temporary storage emptied out
Truck fully loaded
Backing into chemistry parking lot
Truck fully loaded
Unloading the truck into the parking lot
Unloading the truck into the parking lot
Empty truck
Final clean of floors before bringing boxes in
First box coming in
Tight fit through the door
Positioning the box out of the way
Positioning the box out of the way
Biggest box barely fits through the doorway. Perfect fit!
Boxes are in
Boxes are in
Overflow storage
Installation begins!
Dorit and installation engineer Shawn discuss logistics
Checking alignment
Checking alignment
Checking alignment
Microscope is aligned and ready for next steps
The wheels are off
Hooking up to power
We have beam down! The microscope is working.
Glacios interior
interior close up

Aquilos Install

Dorit with smallest Aquilos box
Big Aquilos in crate
Aquilos in crate room
Aquilos in crate room
Aquilos being installed
back of aquilos

Bionova X Bioprinter

Hanein Lab print
Pierre working on bioprinter
bioprinter interior
Peter working on bio-printer
Bioprinter
bioprinter nozzle
particle size comparison
bioprinter under microscope
moving boxes
Peter looking at particle under microscope
bioprinter unboxing
bioprinter well close up
zoom and crate
bioprinter Hanein lab 2
Peter and Pierre with printer

Equipment Demos

STELLARIS 5 Cryo Confocal Light Microscope

STELLARIS 5
Dorit, Peter, Cecile Sauvanet, Armel Bezault, and David DeRosier view the STELLARIS 5
Loading the STELLARIS 5
Sample retrieval
Creative solutions: using a pen cap to open a grid box
Niels volkmann and David DeRosier
Cecile Sauvanet jumps in
STELLARIS 5 screen