🚀 Can automation solve preferred orientation in your #cryoEM datasets? After automating processing across 21 GPCR datasets in #CryoSPARC, we updated the workflow to be even more robust to preferred orientation, achieving improved map quality over manual processing. Read more 👉 bit.ly/3RyOIGG

This first post is inspired by our recent case study on acetogenin-bound complex I (EMPIAR-10927), where refinements using 90,066 particles and only 19,090 particles produced comparable map quality and nominal resolution. Explore why!

Digging Deeper complements our technical case studies by unpacking the methods behind the results. Rather than diving into implementation details, these posts explain the concepts and practical choices that matter during #cryo-EM data processing.

🧩 Why can two refinements with very different particle counts produce nearly identical maps? Our new “Digging Deeper” series breaks down #CryoSPARC case studies in a practical way, starting with how refinement parameters shape reconstruction quality. Read more 👉 cryosparc.com/blog/paramet...

Finally, new pages have been added to the Cryo-EM Foundations section. 🔹Fourier Shell Correlation and Gold-Standard Refinement guide.cryosparc.com/the-fsc-and-... 🔹Symmetry in CryoSPARC guide.cryosparc.com/symmetry-in-...

Our expanded 3D Refinement overview now provides a deeper look at the principles behind #cryo-EM refinement: 🔹3D Refinement guide.cryosparc.com/processing-d...

Explore these rewritten pages to learn about the most commonly adjusted parameters in Refinement and Reconstruction jobs: 🔹Homogeneous Refinement bit.ly/4w57kgy 🔹Non-Uniform Refinement bit.ly/4w57qEW 🔹Homogeneous Reconstruction Only bit.ly/4fyslKN 🔹Heterogeneous Reconstruction Only bit.ly/4hgjezz

🚀 New and expanded #CryoSPARC Guide pages are here! 📚 We present to you several new and updated pages, featuring new figures and explanations, along with learning materials designed for both new and advanced #cryoEM practitioners. Brief summary of what’s new in the thread!

✉️ The latest #CryoSPARC Newsletter is out! Highlights include: 🔹 Sept 2026 workshop hosted with SickKids 🇨🇦 🔹 New cryosparc-tools video 🔹 New case study on discrete heterogeneity 🔹 Small-protein #cryoEM advances 🔹 Dynamic masking guide (v5) Read more here: mailchi.mp/b8fb173dac5c...

🇨🇦 The Toronto-based #CryoSPARC Workshop in collaboration with SickKids is back this September! Dive deep into single particle data processing with the experts at Structura. 🗓️ When | Sept 24-25, 2026 📍Where | SickKids Patient Support Centre, Toronto Info and registration: cvent.me/dL1wem #cryoEM

☀️ Last week we had the pleasure of contributing to the UCSC #CryoEM Workshop in Santa Cruz with a hands-on #CryoSPARC data processing session. ✨ Thank you to the organizers and everyone who participated. We look forward to many more opportunities to contribute to workshops like this!

☀️ Structura will be at the UCSC CryoEM Workshop in Santa Cruz this week, leading a hands-on workshop on #cryoEM #SingleParticleAnalysis with #CryoSPARC. Looking forward to exchanging ideas and strategies, and chatting about all things cryo-EM! See you there!🔬 👉 sites.google.com/view/ucsccry...

🚀 We're excited to announce the stable release of CryoSPARC v5! After a successful public beta and months of testing, we’re excited to share this major milestone, made possible by feedback from the amazing #CryoSPARC community. Learn more 👉 cryosparc.com/blog/v5-0-st... #cryoEM #StructuralBiology

🔬 We’ll be at the 6th NY Area #CryoEM Meeting on May 27, presenting recent developments in #CryoSPARC for Homogeneous Ab Initio Refinement and workflows for small proteins. bit.ly/4dYMUze We’re also proud to support the meeting as a sponsor — stop by our poster to learn more!

What an incredible #Cryo-EM SPA mini-course last week, hosted by @royalmicrosoc.bsky.social & ThermoFisher Scientific! 🚀 Huge thanks to all the participants who joined the webinar, and to the experts who shared their insights on #SingleParticle #cryoEM workflows.

We will be at the @proterosma.bsky.social IBA Conference in Boston next week! Stop by our poster to chat about the latest developments in #CryoSPARC, including new results from fully automated data processing for #sbdd repeat-target scenarios & v5 features 🔬  bit.ly/49hQoKo #SingleParticle #Cryo-EM

We are at the CCP-EM Spring Symposium XII in Nottingham! Come check out our talk (Session 6, 11:00) and Poster 12 (Session 1) to stay updated on new developments for #SingleParticle #Cryo-EM Data Processing in #CryoSPARC!

Very excited for this in-person #CryoSPARC workshop in partnership with @sickkidsto.bsky.social and the Canadian #CryoEM Nexus! Register today!

11/ And finally, v5 connects the #CryoSPARC app with all of the detailed documentation (guide.cryosparc.com) that our team produces, with embedded docs links throughout the interface!

10/ Resource usage (GPU, CPU, and RAM) is now clearly visible across the interface, making it easier to diagnose bottlenecks, optimize scheduling and make better use of shared compute resources.

9/ Additional workflow improvements for #cryo-EM: Tags can now be created inline and applied to multiple jobs at once, parameters can be copied + pasted across jobs, and job info tags (job card stats) can be exported.

8/ Uploading external 3D volumes and masks into CryoSPARC is smoother. When Auto-Import is enabled, CryoSPARC will automatically create and queue an Import 3D Volumes job when .mrc or .map files are uploaded.

7/ In the tree view, upstream jobs are now collapsed into grouped cards, making it easy to stay focused on the jobs relevant to your workspace, and see where jobs from other workspaces are connected.

6/ The Job Dashboard brings all key outputs, plots, and diagnostics into one place. Interpret results at a glance and see changes over iterations. With the multi-job Comparison View, immediately spot differences and make decisions about the effect of a parameter or input change.

5/ v5 updates to CryoSPARC Live in make real-time processing easier under real-world data collection and hardware constraints. Delay the start of a Live session until new data arrives, auto pause when no new data has been found, and run multiple preprocessing workers per GPU.

4/ Homogeneous Ab-Initio Refinement enables refinement to high resolution from scratch, while preserving gold standard independence. Inspired by @olibclarke.bsky.social group’s results showing that Ab-Initio Reconstruction can improve map quality for small challenging targets.

3/ 3D refinements now perform per-particle scale optimization by default. The optimized values measure particle quality, used during reconstruction to down-weight low quality particles. The values can also be useful for separating low-quality particles from a dataset.

2/ Masking during 3D refinement has been significantly reworked. Dynamic mask generation now adapts automatically as resolution changes, reducing the likelihood of overfitting or overestimated resolution, without users needing to modify parameters.

🚀 CryoSPARC v5.0 BETA is here! We’re excited to deploy another major #CryoSPARC release to help enable and accelerate #cryoEM data analysis. v5 has a redesigned underlying software system and many new features - highlights in thread! Full changelog: cryosparc.com/updates/v5.0.0

On a gruelling hunt for rare associated molecules in your #cryoEM particle stack and not sure where to look? Discover practical tips and tricks in our new case study using #CryoSPARC v4.7.1 where we find and refine a low-population interaction partner! guide.cryosparc.com/processing-d...