Diffraction News and Research

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Discovery of key process in bacterial infection could lead to new drug targets to prevent infection

Bacteria can swim, propelling themselves through fluids using a whip-like extension called a flaggella. They can also walk, strolling along solid surfaces using little fibrous legs called pili. It is this motility that enable some pathogenic bacteria to establish the infections - such as meningitis - that cause their human hosts to get sick or even die.

4 Jan 2010

CyMap technology wins first prize in the Medical and Healthcare category

CyMap, an innovative lens-free microscope developed by Cancer Research UK scientists and members of the Optical Biochips Consortium*, has won first prize in the Medical and Healthcare category of The Engineer's Technology and Innovation Awards as well as the overall Grand Prix prize.

11 Dec 2009

Specially developed PACEM system installed at Max Planck Institute for Biophysics

PACEM is a transmission electron microscope (TEM) designed to image low-contrast biological specimens. It was specially developed and installed at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysics (MPI-BP) by optical expert Carl Zeiss in Oberkochen and researchers from the Macromolecular Complexes excellence cluster in Frankfurt.

3 Dec 2009

DALSA to showcase its Helios10 MD panel at the RSNA 2009

DALSA Corporation, through its Rad-icon Imaging division, today announced general availability of the Helios10 MD panel, the first product in the company's new Helios camera family. With an active area of 20 x 25 cm, the Helios10 MD is the first CMOS X-Ray panel from DALSA of this size and form factor, a medical-grade cassette package with an integrated handle.

30 Nov 2009

Researchers uncover atomic-level action of ring-shaped protein motors

The atomic-level action of a remarkable class of ring-shaped protein motors has been uncovered by researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) using a state-of-the-art protein crystallography beamline at the Advanced Light Source (ALS).

25 Nov 2009

$SAFC Pharma's Pharmorphix Solid State Research Laboratories installs new single crystal X-ray diffraction system$

SAFC Pharma's Pharmorphix Solid State Research Laboratories installs new single crystal X-ray diffraction system

SAFC Pharma®, a business segment of SAFC®, a member of the Sigma-Aldrich® Group, today announced that its Pharmorphix® Solid State Research Laboratories in Cambridge, UK, have installed a new single crystal X-ray diffraction system. The Oxford Diffraction SuperNova(TM) system, which can determine the crystal structures from the most challenging crystal samples, is the first industrial installation of this state-of-the-art instrumentation anywhere in the world.

13 Oct 2009

NIH awards a $2.2M grant to biochemist for a high-resolution electron microscope

Waltham, MA-Researchers' ability to rapidly detect the macromolecular protein clumps implicated in Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases will soon get a sizable boost in the lab of biochemist and Howard Hughes Medical Investigator Nikolaus Grigorieff. The National Institutes of Health has just awarded Grigorieff a $2.2 million grant for a second high-resolution electron microscope (EM) in his lab.

8 Oct 2009

Study reveals large structural differences between natural prions and man-made synthetic analogs

A collaboration between scientists at Vanderbilt University and the University of California, San Francisco has led to the first direct information about the molecular structure of prions. In addition, the study has revealed surprisingly large structural differences between natural prions and the closest synthetic analogs that scientists have created in the lab.

7 Oct 2009

Study reveals information about molecular structure of prions

6 Oct 2009

Professor's research to transform mobile phones into powerful medical devices

Cell phones have come a long way in the last decade. Today, one can talk, text message, shoot photos and video, send and receive e-mail, and even access the Web. Now imagine a cell phone that can be used to monitor diseases like HIV or malaria and to test water quality after a major disaster like a hurricane or earthquake.

3 Oct 2009

Improved-resolution views of a zinc transporter protein deciphered

New, improved-resolution views of a zinc transporter protein deciphered at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory provide not just a structure but also a suggested mechanism for how cells sense and regulate zinc, an element that is essential for life, but which must be kept at a steady state to avoid problems like seizures, diabetes, and possibly Alzheimer's disease.

14 Sep 2009

Protein unfolding key to understanding blood clot mechanics

Fibrin, the chief ingredient of blood clots, is a remarkably versatile polymer. On one hand, it forms a network of fibers -- a blood clot -- that stems the loss of blood at an injury site while remaining pliable and flexible. On the other hand, fibrin provides a scaffold for thrombi, clots that block blood vessels and cause tissue damage, leading to myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases. How does fibrin manage to be so strong and yet so extensible under the stresses of healing and blood flow?

6 Aug 2009

Experimental imaging technique reveals ‘tell tale’ brain plaques in Alzheimer's

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have demonstrated a new, highly detailed x-ray imaging technique that could be developed into a method for early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.

15 Jun 2009

Matrix protein key to fighting viruses

Researchers from Durham University's Centre for Bioactive Chemistry are developing methods that show how proteins interact with cell membranes when a virus strikes.

30 Apr 2009

New generation of nanotools for ultra-sensitive measurements at the atomic level

As researchers push towards detection of single molecules, single electron spins and the smallest amounts of mass and movement, Yale researchers have demonstrated silicon-based nanocantilevers, smaller than the wavelength of light, that operate on photonic principles eliminating the need for electric transducers and expensive laser setups.

26 Apr 2009

Next generation ultra-thin materials only one molecule thick

With the human genome in hand, biochemists have cataloged the 3-D structures of thousands of proteins isolated from living cells.

14 Apr 2009

Researchers model 3D structures of proteins that control human clock

In an Early Edition issue of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on April 9, 2009, the researchers report that they have been able to determine the molecular structure of a plant photolyase protein that is surprisingly similar to two cryptochrome proteins that control the "master clock" in humans and other mammals.

12 Apr 2009

Scientists discover structure of a protein that makes cancer cells resistant to chemotherapy

A research team at the Scripps Research Institute has obtained the first glimpse of a protein that keeps certain substances, including many drugs, out of cells.

29 Mar 2009

Synthesizing Vernix caseosa

Even after nine months soaking in the womb, a newborn's skin is smooth - unlike an adult's in the bath.

17 Mar 2009

Long-sought protein structure may help reveal how ‘gene switch’ works

The bacterium behind one of mankind's deadliest scourges, tuberculosis, is helping researchers at the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) move closer to answering the decades-old question of what controls the switching on and off of genes that carry out all of life's functions.

10 Feb 2009