Clabbers, Max T.B.Xu, Hongyi2025-06-012025-06-011740-6749PubMed:34895659ORCID:/0000-0002-8271-3906/work/184830375http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85098627714&partnerID=8YFLogxKhttps://hdl.handle.net/1885/733756291Microcrystal electron diffraction (MicroED) has recently shown to be a promising technique for structure determination in structural biology and pharmaceutical chemistry. Here, we discuss the unique properties of electrons and motivate its use for diffraction experiments. We review the latest developments in MicroED, and illustrate its applications in macromolecular crystallography, fragment screening and structure guided drug discovery. We discuss the perspectives of MicroED in synthetic chemistry and pharmaceutical development. We anticipate that the rapid advances MicroED showcased here will promote further development of electron crystallography and open up new opportunities for drug discovery.The authors thank Xiaodong Zou and Sven Hovmöller for insightful discussions and critical manuscript reading. We acknowledge funding of the Swedish Research Council ( 2017-05333 , 2019-00815 ), the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation ( 2018.0237 ) and SciLifeLab technology development project ( MicroED@SciLifeLab ). The authors thank Xiaodong Zou and Sven Hovm?ller for insightful discussions and critical manuscript reading. We acknowledge funding of the Swedish Research Council (2017-05333, 2019-00815), the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (2018.0237) and SciLifeLab technology development project (MicroED@SciLifeLab).13en© 2020 The Author(s)3DEDElectron crystallographyElectron diffractionFragment screeningLigand bindingMicroEDPharmaceuticalsStructural biology202010.1016/j.ddtec.2020.12.00285098627714