Cilia are hair-like structures protruding out of the cell, taking part in a wide variety of biological processes. Since the cilia play an essential role in the development and function of the cell, cilia-related malfunction usually has detrimental effects on the development and the health of patients, such as retardation, blindness and chronic respiratory diseases. Understanding how cilia function will provide opportunities to effectively diagnose and treat cilia-related diseases. Dr. Huy Bui’s research focuses on elucidating the three-dimensional structure of the cilia and the underlying logistic system used to dynamically maintain and assemble the cilia. The lab aims to obtain high resolutions images of various components of the cilia by cryo-electron microscopy and cryo-electron tomography. Using complementary data, the lab models the atomic structures of cilia components to obtain novel insight into the molecular mechanism of ciliary assembly. In addition, they use correlative light and electron microscopy to explore the ciliary dynamics.