A method for finding the center of cryo-EM images which correspond to the projections of a symmetric 3D structure, based on mathematical properties of symmetry adapted functions and the Fourier-Bessel transform, is presented. It is a model independent one-step procedure with no parameters to be chosen by the user. The proposed method is tested in one synthetic tetrahedral case with different noise levels and in two real cases with D-7 and icosahedral symmetries. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.