|Lensless Imaging of Whole Biological Cells with Soft X-Rays| A
team of scientists has used x-ray diffraction microscopy at ALS
Beamline 9.0.1 to make images of whole yeast cells, achieving
the highest resolution—11 to 13 nanometers (billionths of a
meter)—ever obtained with this method for biological specimens.
Their success indicates that full 3-D tomography of whole cells
at equivalent resolution should soon be possible. The National
Center for X-Ray Tomography at ALS Beamline 2.1 images whole,
frozen hydrated cells in 3-D (see highlight "Imaging Antifungal
Drug Molecules in Action using Soft X-Ray Tomography"). Large
numbers of cells can currently be processed in a short time at
resolutions of 40 to 60 nanometers, but the ability to increase
resolution to the 10-nanometer range would enhance research
capabilities in both biology and materials sciences. This
research team had previously imaged frozen hydrated cells at 25
nanometer resolution, but image quality and reconstruction
algorithms were affected by