{"id":1361,"date":"2024-01-16T17:43:33","date_gmt":"2024-01-16T17:43:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thermofisher.com\/blog\/atomic-resolution\/?p=1361"},"modified":"2024-01-16T17:48:01","modified_gmt":"2024-01-16T17:48:01","slug":"advanced-characterization-unravels-ebola-virus-structure-and-behavior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thermofisher.com\/blog\/atomic-resolution\/advanced-characterization-unravels-ebola-virus-structure-and-behavior\/","title":{"rendered":"Advanced Characterization Unravels Ebola Virus Structure and Behavior"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mechanism of Ebola cell entry is critical for the development of effective therapeutics<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Ebola virus is a notorious illness for both its high contagiousness and lethality, marked by dramatic external bleeding in its later stages. In recent years, there has been great progress in the development of preventative treatments against Ebola and an FDA approved vaccine has been available since 2019<\/a>. However, the finer mechanistic behavior of Ebola and the Ebola virus structure remains relatively unknown, which hampers the development of treatments and therapeutics. In particular, capturing the mechanism of Ebola cell entry has been difficult, as it is a highly dynamic process which ends with the delivering of the Ebola virus RNA into the host cell. Researchers from the University Hospital Heidelberg (Germany) have now visualized <\/a>Ebola virus membrane fusion and cell entry through a combination of cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) imaging, digital 3D reconstruction, molecular analysis and membrane modeling.<\/p>\n

Determining Ebola virus structure and cell entry<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Ebola viruses (EBOVs) form filamentous and long virions which enter into the cytoplasm of the host cell through the fusion with endosomal membranes. A matrix layer consisting of the matrix viral protein 40 (VP40) is fundamental to determine the shape and the stability of the EBOVs and forms a scaffold under the viral envelope which is important to protect the genome during the transmission. \u00a0However, it remains unknown how virions go through the uncoating process, including virion disassembly and release of the nucleocapsid, (which contains the viral genome) into the cytosol. Using cryo-ET, researchers first produce a thin slice of a flash-frozen biological sample with a dedicated cryo-focused ion beam (cryo-FIB), which can mill a specimen down to nanometer thickness. Then, the sample is imaged with a cryo-ET microscope (in 2D) at a series of angles, which are digitally reconstructed into a 3D representation of the sample.<\/p>\n

In this study, tomograms acquired with Thermo Fisher Scientific Titan Krios \u00a0showed impressive details of the EBOV virions localized in the endosomes of infected cells (Figure 1). The 3D segmentation and reconstruction of tomograms carried out with Thermo Scientific Amira Software<\/a> provided incredible details of viral and cellular structures. Researchers visualized membrane fragments and vesicles, which were products of a degradation process that occurred in the host cell. The VP40 matrix appeared disassembled and not attached to the viral envelope as well. Interestingly Amira Software allowed to distinguish key components of the Ebola virus structure such as the envelope, VP40 and the nucleocapsid.<\/p>\n

By analyzing multiple endosomes and combining their observations with molecular analysis and membrane modeling, they were able to determine that the disassembly of the VP40 matrix occurs at low pH conditions prior to the membrane fusion. The researchers suggest that the EBOV uncoating starts with the disassembly of the VP40 matrix followed by the membrane fusion and release of the nucleocapsid into the cytoplasm.<\/p>\n

\"Ebola

Cryo-ET process along with resulting 2D images and 3D reconstructions. Segmentation performed with Amira Software clearly distinguishes key components of the Ebola virion. Figure reproduced in part from S.L. Winter, et al. under CC BY 4.0.<\/p><\/div>\n

Producing targeted treatments by observing how viruses enter cells<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Deconvoluting the way viruses enter our cells is a critical step towards targeted treatments. The behavior of the protein matrix revealed by the team at the University Hospital Heidelberg has provided a promising target for disrupting Ebola\u2019s ability to infect cells. Their approach, which combines high-resolution cryo-EM with advanced segmentation and molecular modeling, serves as a novel template for the mechanistic investigation of any number of infectious diseases. We are excited to see how such direct observation of virus behavior will guide the development of effective treatments.<\/p>\n

Learn more about Amira Software at\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>thermofisher.com\/amira<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0>><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\u00a0Rosa Pipitone PhD is a Marketing Content Specialist at Thermo Fisher Scientific. <\/em>Written in collaboration with Alex Ilitchev PhD, Scientific Editor at Thermo Fisher Scientific.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mechanism of Ebola cell entry is critical for the development of effective therapeutics The Ebola virus is a notorious illness for both its high contagiousness and lethality, marked by dramatic external bleeding in its later stages. In recent years, there has been great progress in the development of preventative treatments against Ebola and an FDA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1660,"featured_media":1366,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[24,185,1],"tags":[],"division":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1361","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cryo-electron-microscopy-cryo-em","8":"category-software","9":"category-uncategorized","10":"entry"},"_selected_authors":"","_selected_reviewers":"","acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEbola 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The increasing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cryo EM Drug Discovery"","block_context":{"text":"Cryo EM Drug Discovery","link":"https:\/\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/cryo-electron-microscopy-cryo-em\/cryo-em-drug-discovery\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2025\/12\/blog-8-banner-1920x450-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2025\/12\/blog-8-banner-1920x450-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2025\/12\/blog-8-banner-1920x450-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2025\/12\/blog-8-banner-1920x450-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2025\/12\/blog-8-banner-1920x450-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2025\/12\/blog-8-banner-1920x450-1.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2117,"url":"https:\/\/www.thermofisher.com\/blog\/atomic-resolution\/advances-in-cryo-electron-tomography-expand-the-capabilities-of-quantitative-cell-biology\/","url_meta":{"origin":1361,"position":1},"title":"Advances in cryo-electron tomography expand the capabilities of quantitative cell biology","author":"Vinay S","date":"September 29, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Key takeaways Cryo-electron tomography has largely been seen as a qualitative method because cryo-ET data segmentation has been a highly intensive, manual process. Recent advances in deep-learning-based segmentation have expanded the capabilities of cryo-electron tomography, supporting quantitative analysis of cellular structures. A recent webinar by Professor Danielle Grotjahn highlights how\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cryo EM Techniques"","block_context":{"text":"Cryo EM Techniques","link":"https:\/\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/cryo-electron-microscopy-cryo-em\/cryo-em-techniques\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Advances in cryo-electron tomography expand the capabilities of quantitative cell biology.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2026\/09\/blog-cryo-em-series-header-1920x450-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2026\/09\/blog-cryo-em-series-header-1920x450-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2026\/09\/blog-cryo-em-series-header-1920x450-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2026\/09\/blog-cryo-em-series-header-1920x450-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2026\/09\/blog-cryo-em-series-header-1920x450-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2026\/09\/blog-cryo-em-series-header-1920x450-1.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2172,"url":"https:\/\/www.thermofisher.com\/blog\/atomic-resolution\/what-is-subtomogram-averaging\/","url_meta":{"origin":1361,"position":2},"title":"What is Subtomogram Averaging?","author":"Swarnim Rawat","date":"October 19, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Turning crowded cryo-ET data into structural insight with subtomogram averaging Cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET) is capable of capturing detailed, three-dimensional views of vitrified biological samples, supporting a broad range of life sciences research. Subtomogram averaging helps refine that crowded data for clearer structural insight by finding repeated particles, extracting them as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cancer Research"","block_context":{"text":"Cancer Research","link":"https:\/\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/cryo-electron-microscopy-cryo-em\/amira-software\/cancer-research\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Social Cryo EM","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2026\/10\/social.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2026\/10\/social.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2026\/10\/social.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2026\/10\/social.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1854,"url":"https:\/\/www.thermofisher.com\/blog\/atomic-resolution\/advances-in-100-kv-high-resolution-cryo-em-single-particle-analysis\/","url_meta":{"origin":1361,"position":3},"title":"Advances in high-resolution cryo-EM at 100 kV","author":"Swarnim Rawat","date":"February 5, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"100 kV cryo-TEM enables high-resolution single particle analysis Within the past decade, cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) techniques have revolutionized structural biology by enabling the visualization of challenging molecular and sub-cellular structures in their near-native states at high resolution. These valuable observations have, until recently, been relegated to advanced 300 kV instruments\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cryo-Electron Microscopy (Cryo-EM)"","block_context":{"text":"Cryo-Electron Microscopy (Cryo-EM)","link":"https:\/\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/cryo-electron-microscopy-cryo-em\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Advances in high-resolution cryo-EM at 100 kV","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2025\/08\/Blog-Tundra-Preprint-1858725-1920x450-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2025\/08\/Blog-Tundra-Preprint-1858725-1920x450-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2025\/08\/Blog-Tundra-Preprint-1858725-1920x450-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2025\/08\/Blog-Tundra-Preprint-1858725-1920x450-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2025\/08\/Blog-Tundra-Preprint-1858725-1920x450-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2025\/08\/Blog-Tundra-Preprint-1858725-1920x450-1.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2143,"url":"https:\/\/www.thermofisher.com\/blog\/atomic-resolution\/microscopy-image-analysis-with-amira-software-ai-in-cell-biology\/","url_meta":{"origin":1361,"position":4},"title":"Four ways AI is making microscopy image analysis easier for cell biologists","author":"Alejandra Sanchez-Erostegui","date":"October 14, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Key takeaways Modern microscopes are capable of generating large volumes of high-resolution data, which is highly valuable for cell biology research, but also makes it increasingly more laborious and difficult to extract meaningful scientific information from the whole dataset.\u00a0 Artificial intelligence is well positioned to support this work by streamlining\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Amira Software"","block_context":{"text":"Amira Software","link":"https:\/\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/cryo-electron-microscopy-cryo-em\/amira-software\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Four ways AI is making microscopy image analysis easier for cell biologists.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2026\/10\/fault-localization-root-cause-ai-packaging-header-1920x450-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2026\/10\/fault-localization-root-cause-ai-packaging-header-1920x450-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2026\/10\/fault-localization-root-cause-ai-packaging-header-1920x450-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2026\/10\/fault-localization-root-cause-ai-packaging-header-1920x450-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2026\/10\/fault-localization-root-cause-ai-packaging-header-1920x450-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2026\/10\/fault-localization-root-cause-ai-packaging-header-1920x450-1.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2016,"url":"https:\/\/www.thermofisher.com\/blog\/atomic-resolution\/how-artificial-intelligence-ai-improves-image-analysis-workflows-in-life-sciences\/","url_meta":{"origin":1361,"position":5},"title":"How artificial intelligence (AI) improves image analysis workflows in life sciences","author":"Vinay S","date":"June 2, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Image acquisition is not the end of the story\u2014it is the starting point. Once images are captured, researchers typically move into preprocessing to improve quality, then they perform visualization, segmentation, and quantitative analysis to extract meaningful measurements. The goal is simple: turn images into understanding. In practice, however, image analysis\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Amira Software"","block_context":{"text":"Amira Software","link":"https:\/\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/cryo-electron-microscopy-cryo-em\/amira-software\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"How artificial intelligence (AI) improves image analysis workflows in life sciences","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2026\/06\/amira-ai-tools-blog-header-1920x450-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2026\/06\/amira-ai-tools-blog-header-1920x450-1.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2026\/06\/amira-ai-tools-blog-header-1920x450-1.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2026\/06\/amira-ai-tools-blog-header-1920x450-1.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2026\/06\/amira-ai-tools-blog-header-1920x450-1.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2026\/06\/amira-ai-tools-blog-header-1920x450-1.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/admin.acceleratingscience.com\/atomic-resolution\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/22\/2024\/01\/Ebola-Blog-Header-Image_1920x800.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thermofisher.com\/blog\/atomic-resolution\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thermofisher.com\/blog\/atomic-resolution\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thermofisher.com\/blog\/atomic-resolution\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thermofisher.com\/blog\/atomic-resolution\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1660"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thermofisher.com\/blog\/atomic-resolution\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thermofisher.com\/blog\/atomic-resolution\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thermofisher.com\/blog\/atomic-resolution\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thermofisher.com\/blog\/atomic-resolution\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thermofisher.com\/blog\/atomic-resolution\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thermofisher.com\/blog\/atomic-resolution\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1361"},{"taxonomy":"division","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thermofisher.com\/blog\/atomic-resolution\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/division?post=1361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}