Dr. Ruan started her research career as an electron microscopist. She used electron microscopy to solve the structure of the self-assembled materials during her Ph.D work at Stockholm University. In 2009, she moved into cryo electron microscopy field at Osaka University and dedicated herself to structural biology. She revealed the structure of the flagellar motor of marine bacteria using cryo electron tomography and single particle analysis. In 2018, she moved to UNSW and worked at Electron Microscope Unit. Her research interests focus on the structure and function of biological macromolecular assemblies using single particle analysis, cryo electron tomography and microcrystal electron diffraction.