DANCEM, short for Danish National CryoEM Infrastructure, will be distributed across two existing core facilities: the Core Facility for Integrated Bioimaging (CFIB) at the University of Copenhagen and EMBION at Aarhus University, which share the grant. The funding covers new state-of-the-art electron microscopes, IT upgrades, and specialist staff.

“We are very grateful, as this novel investment will strengthen the entire Danish and Nordic cryoEM ecosystem – from technology and expertise to collaboration and discovery,” says Tillmann Pape, Facility Manager at CFIB.

The infrastructure will allow researchers to visualize proteins, viruses, and other biological structures at atomic and molecular resolution. A key focus is cryogenic electron tomography (cryoET), a method that lets scientists study molecular organization directly inside cells rather than in isolated samples. This shows how biological processes work in their natural environment and how they change during disease.

The knowledge generated could improve understanding of how diseases develop and progress, lead to more effective therapies, and identify new drug targets in areas such as neurology, infectious diseases, and cell biology. The infrastructure is also expected to strengthen Denmark’s position in structural biology, attract top scientific talent, and train the next generation of cryoEM specialists.

The aim is for DANCEM to become “a flagship national cryoEM research infrastructure, built on strong synergies between leading institutions, aiming to empower the Danish research community to visualize the architecture of molecular systems – from atomic to cellular anatomy,” says Thomas Boesen, Scientific Director at EMBION.

DANCEM will be officially launched with a mini symposium at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences in Copenhagen on October 22.