Sjors Scheres, Joint Head of Division and Programme Leader at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, is distinguished for developing methods for structure determination by electron cryo-microscopy and for using these methods to determine the structures of amyloids from human brain.
He developed an empirical Bayesian framework that he implemented in the program RELION which is the most widely used computer program for cryo-EM structure determination. Its power was illustrated when he and colleagues showed that structure determination by cryo-EM can achieve atomic resolution. Dr Scheres and colleagues reported the first ever high-resolution structures of Alzheimer's disease tau filaments opening a new area of research.