Behind the lens: Giovanna Grandinetti

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Giovanna Grandinetti
In her free time, Dr. Giovanna Grandinetti enjoys gardening with her children.

Researchers know that multiple perspectives can lead to a more complete answer. And adding a new perspective can plant the seed that advances research forward.

Dr. Giovanna Grandinetti recently joined the Center of Electron Microscopy and Analysis at The Ohio State University as a cryo-electron microscopy researcher. She joins a team focused on challenging what is possible in cryo-electron microscopy and confronting current characterization limitations. 

“Having top-line microscopes with a staff that knows how to use them can push projects to the next level,” Grandinetti said. “I think the diversity of our staff backgrounds is especially valuable to researchers at Ohio State.”

A native of Parma, Ohio, Grandinetti received her Ph.D. in chemistry from Virginia Tech in 2011. Since graduating, she has been working in the field of biomedical research with an emphasis on cancer. After graduate school, she worked at the Lerner Research Institute at the Cleveland Clinic and at the National Institutes of Health as a postdoctoral fellow. In 2015, Grandinetti began working as a scientist for the National Institutes of Health. 

“During graduate school, I mostly did flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy,” Grandinetti shared. “I did a postdoc at the Cleveland Clinic to learn more about molecular biology techniques, and then transitioned to the NIH. My original plan for going to the NIH was to work on superresolution fluorescence microscopy in the Subramaniam Laboratory, but I was introduced to FIB-SEM and TEM and became very interested in those microscopes.”

Grandinetti began refining her cryo-EM techniques and facilitating user research as a scientist at the NIH. In the role, she focused on cryo-transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) projects while developing tags for correlative fluorescence and electron microscopy. 

She loved her work but missed the Buckeye state. 

“After having my kids, I got homesick for Ohio and moved back to teach chemistry at Muskingum University,” Grandinetti said. “I enjoyed teaching very much but still missed electron microscopy. After learning about the cryo-EM research position at CEMAS, visiting and meeting some of the staff, and seeing the facility, I was very excited about joining the team.”

Located in a custom-designed facility, every one of the electron and ion microscopes at CEMAS meets or exceeds manufacturer performance specifications. CEMAS recently installed a Thermo Scientific Glacios Cryo-TEM with a Falcon III direct electron detector and a Ceta-D camera for MicroED analysis. In addition, CEMAS has a Thermo Scientific Krios G3i Cryo-TEM equipped with a Bioquantum imaging filter and a K3 direct electron detector, imaging phase plates, STEM/TEM tomography, and an image spherical aberration corrector. 

CEMAS can assist users in all aspects of the cryo-EM workflow, including initial negative stain analysis, cryogenic sample preparation, grid screening, high-resolution data collection, and preliminary data analysis. 

Grandinetti wants to use these advanced capabilities to drive discovery, particularly in biology and chemistry. 

“During graduate school, I was working on polymer-based DNA and drug delivery vehicles. During my postdoctoral work, I was focused on cancer research as well as studying different viral and bacterial infections. Microscopy allows us to visualize what is happening inside cells during these processes,” said Grandinetti.

At CEMAS, her initial goal is to shorten the time it takes from screening cryo-EM samples to data collection.

“Since I was introduced to cryo-EM, there has been lots more automation for aligning microscopes and data collection,“ Grandinetti said. “It is also easier to load cryo-samples into microscopes, and there have been advances in sample preparation.

“I started in single-particle cryo-EM at the NIH and was interested in the sample prep challenge. It is great that CEMAS has a dedicated to screening microscope for cryo-EM samples. This can really help projects move along faster and troubleshoot different sample prep conditions.”

Although Grandinetti will bring a new perspective to the CEMAS team, she’s looking forward to introducing even more voices into the cryo-EM conversation at Ohio State. 

“I am still in close contact with coworkers from the NIH, and we still bounce ideas off each other in terms of sample prep and data collection techniques. At CEMAS, Yoshie Narui has been extremely helpful in getting me up to speed with EPU software used for data collection and some single-particle data processing. It is nice having people with different backgrounds to learn from,” Grandinetti said. 

Starting a new role in the middle of a global pandemic has presented some unique challenges to Grandinetti. However, she credits Cryo-EM Senior Researcher Yoshie Narui for guiding her through the onboarding process. 

“One particular challenge has been learning where everything is at CEMAS with social distancing in place,” Grandinetti said. “Yoshie has done a good job with virtual training to show me where certain things are in the facility.”

When she’s not facilitating groundbreaking research, Grandinetti enjoys spending time with her most impactful collaborators, her children. Together, they spend time gardening, playing video games, and cooking. 

Join us in welcoming Dr. Grandinetti: grandinetti.2@osu.edu

 

Categories: StaffResearch