Thomas White (DESY) A three-dimensional rendering of X-ray data
obtained from over 15,000 single nanocrystal diffraction
snapshots recorded at the Linac Coherent Light Source, the
world's first hard X-ray free-electron laser, located at SLAC
National Accelerator Laboratory. The 3-D structure of proteins
-- in this case Photosystem I -- can be determined from these
diffraction patterns. Each nanocrystal was destroyed by the
intense X-ray pulse, but not before information about its
structure was revealed. Scientists are using intense, ultra-
short X-ray pulses from a free-electron laser to collect data on
the 3-D structure of proteins and single-shot images of an
intact virus. The feat demonstrates a way to use X-rays "to look
at very, very small objects with really high resolution,"
Michael Bogan, a staff scientist at the Department of Energy's
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, told me today. The
research was led by Henry Chapman of the Center for Free
Electron Laser Science at the German national laborator