Category: MAX IV

MAX IV’s artist in residence project revealed: A visceral appeal to seed the future

MAX IV’s artist in residence project revealed: A visceral appeal to seed the future

MAX IV’s first artist in residence, Jennifer Rainsford has revealed her plans for a science-inspired artwork crafted with X-rays and experiences from the experimental halls of MAX IV. With insights from ForMAX, NanoMAX and other beamlines and the laser lab, her new exhibit and film will offer the public a fresh perspective and closer look at research conducted at Sweden’s large-scale research infrastructure, MAX IV.

The Artist in Residence programme is designed to highlight activities at MAX IV, while also spotlighting Lund University as Sweden’s leading cultural university by offering new contexts for artistic exploration and exposition. Thanks to generous funding by the Gyllenstiernska Krapperup Foundation, a chosen artist is offered an onsite residency to learn about the science and the 4th generation synchrotron in order to develop an artistic project which reflects current research or techniques in X-ray science.

“This programme offers a rare chance for talented professionals in vastly different fields to collaborate. Artists and scientists are both curious and creative, and it is those qualities that lead to new ways of thinking and new discoveries,” said Heidi LaGrasta, MAX IV Outreach Officer and co-coordinator for the Artist in Residence programme. “I am eager to see what happens when we dissolve the boundaries between these two fields and allow for a more expansive understanding and investigation of research here at MAX IV.”

Read more on the MAX IV website

Image: Goldenrod in a field

Credit: Hans Benn/ Pixabay

Nanoscale under gigapressure

Nanoscale under gigapressure

Research team led by DESY and MAX IV scientists adapts important X-ray analysis method for use with difficult-to-move samples

Sometimes a change of perspective can make a world of difference. A team of scientists from DESY and MAX IV as well as University of Bayreuth has rearranged the method in which one can use an X-ray beam to image a sample without using high-quality lenses. The method, called ptychography, has been widely used at synchrotrons and free-electron lasers to analyse the inner workings of materials quickly enough while avoiding major damage to the sample by the X-rays. The team has turned the standard method of ptychography on its head: Instead of moving the sample around the X-ray beam, they have figured out how to move the X-ray beam itself in a way that does not alter the properties of the X-rays while still accomplishing the effect of ptychographic analysis. Moreover, they have tested the method on a sample that is in and of itself difficult to move – short-lived states of matter under extreme conditions of pressure and temperature. The team has published their findings in the Proceedings of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

X-ray ptychography has become, in recent years, a standard technique in the toolbox of researchers using X-ray light sources. In a wide variety of fields, including biology and geology, the technique has been critical for imaging the interiors of samples up to atomic-scale detail non-destructively, revealing details on a scale that methods of light and electron microscopy cannot reach. Up to now, ptychography has been accomplished by using extremely precise sample movers that would change the position of the sample relative to the X-ray beam by tiny lengths – sometimes to the nanometre level – creating a grid pattern of sequentially imaged spots that eventually revealed the full image. Called high-resolution phase-contrast imaging, it has provided insights into the nanoscale structures of tiny biological structures, mineral deposits, computer chips and much more.

Read more on the DESY website

Image: Two views of an extreme-states experiment: To the left is an X-ray micrograph of the sample set up, which consisted of a piece of elemental iron surrounded by solid oxygen, itself surrounded by a rhenium gasket within a diamond anvil cell creating intense pressure. To the right is a ptychographic reconstruction of the area of the sample hit by X-rays, shown with a green circle. In that area using their new ptychographic method, the team could reconstruct the oxidation of the iron being melted by the intense pressure. An extreme-states experiment of this kind has not before been imaged in this way.

Credit: Tang Li, DESY

Unique biomaterial found in a lizard

Unique biomaterial found in a lizard

Researchers have found a biomaterial with surprising features in the skin of a lizard. The material is hard like enamel but is structured differently. Understanding the material on the nanoscale opens up new routes in designing for hard-wearing applications.

The Mexican beaded lizard has little hard plates in its skin called osteoderms, which are made of bone and topped with a so-called capping tissue. The plates protect the lizard from being hurt when bitten, but are also unique from a materials standpoint. An international research team has used the beamline DanMAX to study the material in the plates, particularly the capping tissue. 

“We chose this particular lizard because previous work suggested it had a very stiff capping tissue. There are several open questions, such as how such a stiff tissue can form on top of bone and what the structure and mechanics of the capping material are,” says Henrik Birkedal, one of the contributors to the study.

The experiments show that the capping tissue is as hard as enamel. However, its internal structure is different. So, it looks like these types of hard materials could be realised in more than one way, and due to the variability in structure, potentially with different other mechanical properties besides the hardness.  

“One of the most important results of the study was realising that nature fabricates hard mineralised tissues in a way that we had not seen before,” says Birkedal.

Researchers often study nature to understand and ultimately copy the materials created by evolution and natural selection. The research is called biomimicry or bioinspiration.

Read more on MAX IV website

MAX IV and BESSY II initiate new collaboration to advance materials science

MAX IV and BESSY II initiate new collaboration to advance materials science

Swedish national synchrotron laboratory MAX IV and Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) BESSY II light source announce the signing of a 5-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). The new MoU establishes a framework to strengthen cooperation for operational and technological development in the highlighted fields of accelerator research and development, beamlines and optics, endstations and sample environments as well as digitalisation and data science.

The new agreement increases accessibility and overall opportunities for users to conduct advanced materials science investigations at MAX IV and BESSY II in a smooth, integrated manner. Facility collaboration through project-based initiatives may include, among others, reciprocal exchange of knowledge, instrumentation development and usage, data handling, scientific and technical staff, research initiatives, and PhD programme activities.

“Decades of collaboration between Sweden and HZB—rooted in, for example, shared work on energy-relevant materials and enabling methods and technologies—have continually advanced our field. The MoU we sign today gives MAX IV and HZB a solid platform to keep advancing synchrotron science into the 2030s and beyond,” says Olof Karis, Director of MAX IV.

Read more on MAX IV website

Image: MAX IV and HZB after signing the MoU. From left Olof Karis, Director at MAX IV, Antje Hasselberg, authorized signatory at HZB and Bernd Rech, Scientific Director at HZB.

Credit: HZB / Ronja Gründke

The great planetary reset: Mapping glass pearls

The great planetary reset: Mapping glass pearls

Their days were numbered, all manner of Cretaceous life in kingdom plantae and animalia. Those that survived the impact winter became our modern groups of terrestrial and aquatic plants, animals, and marine plankton. Scientists want to understand how the Chicxulub asteroid that hit Earth 66 million years ago changed the conditions for life on the planet and veiled the sun for so many years, leading to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Secrets to this understanding are locked in the asteroid’s physical composition. An international research group has now produced a unique elemental map of the spherules formed by the asteroid impact, with data from MAX IV’s Balder and NanoMAX beamlines. The findings may better explain the aerosol cloud formation that catalysed extinction-level climate change.

The Chicxulub asteroid impact in the Gulf of Mexico, known as the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) boundary event, marks the epoch demarcation, and the 5th mass extinction in the geological record. The asteroid carved a 200 kilometre-wide, kilometre-deep crater, globally dispersing a clay sediment layer abundant in platinum group elements (PGEs), namely iridium, osmium, and platinum. The ejected molten debris from the vaporized asteroid was preserved in the sediment as glass-like pearls called microspherules.

Major questions have remained about the spherule composition and chemical information, possible carrier elements of the idium in the spherules, and processes that occurred during global distribution after impact. To address these open questions, scientists from Sweden, Colombia, the U.S.A., and United Kingdom investigated spherules from Gorgonilla Island off the west coast of Colombia.

“We were surprised to find such a major heterogeneity, with that I mean that the composition of one spherule from another, is very different, with silica and calcium dominating in some, while others are full of iron. However, the major surprise was finding the elements that we were searching for, the rare iridium,” said Vivi Vajda, Professor of Palaeontology and Head of the Paleobiology department at the Swedish Museum of Natural History. “With the super-high-resolution mapping at NanoMAX, we could see the iridium in the form of tiny shards, in shapes of needles and triangles.”

Structural data collected from the spherules included use of X-ray fluorescence (XRF) microscopy at NanoMAX beamline and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) at Balder beamline at MAX IV. Results revealed the presence of PGEs and identified metallic carrier elements such as cobalt, nickel, lead and others. “We have been able to resolve a major enigma showing that iridium most likely has been transported in a mineral with copper and zinc, possibly minerals new to science,” explained Vajda.

Read more on MAX IV website

Image: Illustration of Chicxulub asteroid impact in the shallow tropical sea in what´s today the Mexican Gulf. The mixture of target rock, marine plankton, and the asteroid formed a melt that produced droplets which cooled to silica ‘pearls’ enclosing traces of the asteroid.

Credit: Pollyanna von Knorring

Seventy times faster charging possible for Lithium-ion batteries 

Seventy times faster charging possible for Lithium-ion batteries 

A research team from the Netherlands and the UK have used MAX IV to investigate a material that could make charging of lithium-ion batteries seventy times faster than today. It is a promising development for future electric vehicles and renewable energy.

Batteries have an important role to play in a sustainable society. Lightweight, fast-charging batteries open for further utilisation of electric vehicles and renewable but non-continuous energy sources, which require efficient storage to be competitive. Battery research is focused on two tracks: inventing entirely new battery technologies or further developing the lithium-ion batteries that are the most commonly used type of battery today. In the current project, the research team have used MAX IV to investigate a new electrode material for lithium-ion batteries.

“We remain interested in researching lithium-ion batteries over new technologies due to a number of factors,” says Maarten Jager, PhD candidate at the University of Groningen and one of the study’s authors.” The technology readiness level of lithium-ion batteries is very high. In the rechargeable battery market, lithium-ion batteries account for about 67% of the market share. The chemistry involved in lithium-ion batteries is also quite well-known, so there is a more straightforward path to explore new components, which could easily be implemented into the market. New technologies can often be promising, but still take years to be developed enough.”

One of the components of batteries that can be further optimised is the electrode material. The general material for the anode, the negative electrode, in lithium-ion batteries is graphite. 

“Graphite has a relatively good stability, high conductivity, and low cost. However, it also has a number of major drawbacks, which reduce its performance. It has a chemistry that limits the amount of energy each unit can store and is flammable. However, its most important drawback is the amount of power it can deliver. Graphite cannot release and store energy quickly, as it would break the electrode,” says Jager. “One major threshold consumers have for choosing an electric car is the time it takes to fully charge it at a fuel station, often over 20 minutes. Significantly bringing down this charging time without compromising battery life or storage capacity is impossible with graphite. Our experiments show that by replacing graphite with copper niobate, we can, without compromising, charge the battery 70 times faster than graphite.”

The copper niobate the researchers used in their experiment is a special so-called mixed crystal phase copper niobate containing five different crystal structures. It is the first time this type of copper niobate is investigated as a battery electrode material. Generally, so-called pure phase materials containing only one crystal structure have been thought to be the best alternative for batteries, but the new results challenge this idea.

Read more on MAX IV website

High-resolution imaging provides clues to lung disease

High-resolution imaging provides clues to lung disease

Researchers have imaged lung tissue affected by Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) with nanometre resolution. They managed to capture differences in the distribution of trace elements compared to a healthy lung. The result is a step towards better understanding the body at the nanoscale and managing this and other currently untreatable diseases.

The distribution of chemical elements in our cells can say a lot about their function and processes. To see this distribution, we need a method with a resolution that is high enough to see details inside cells. The method should also be sensitive to differences in chemical content. The structures inside the cell are on the nanometre scale, and Nano X-ray Fluorescence (Nano-XRF) offers a powerful imaging method that fulfils both criteria. The technique is relatively young and has been used in the research community for about 10–15 years.

“Nano-XRF is becoming more prominent as synchrotron facilities are advancing. Its growing use is linked to improvements in synchrotron technology, such as brighter beams and better focusing, that now allow nanometre-scale spatial resolution and higher sensitivity, enabling applications that were not possible before,” says Bryan Falcones, a postdoc at the Department for Lung Biology at Lund University and visiting research fellow at MAX IV.

Read more on MAXIV website

High-speed snapshots reveal hidden details of catalysis

High-speed snapshots reveal hidden details of catalysis

Developments in time-resolved catalysis research opens a long-awaited opportunity to revisit catalytic reactions that have been subject to scientific debate. In this recent publication, the newly developed method has been used to settle the mechanism for carbon monoxide transformation to carbon dioxide over a platinum catalyst. The result is an important step towards optimisation of catalysts.

The conversion of carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide with the help of a platinum catalyst is one of the most famous catalytic reactions and one that’s been studied for decades. It happens every day in every car catalytic converter to prevent the emission of highly toxic carbon monoxide. The mechanism for the reaction has, however, been subject to a lot of debate. 

It was a big success when, a few decades ago, carbon monoxide oxidation on platinum could be studied with a suite of surface science methods under idealistic conditions: ultrahigh vacuum and low temperatures. The studies suggested that oxygen bound to metallic platinum is the active species in the reaction. However, at the beginning of the 2000s, new tools and experimental methods that could probe the same reaction under realistic conditions, so-called operando, at elevated pressures and temperatures, started to appear. The results suggested a new candidate for the active species, platinum oxide, and the big debate started.

“The main challenge with such a materials system, however, is that although the oxide formation is indeed favourable under operando conditions, its presence does not imply reactivity. With studies done under equilibrium conditions, there is actually no way of telling,” says Andrey Shavorskiy, beamline scientist at the HIPPIE beamline and one of the authors of the study.

Dynamic and time-resolved surface studies have, with faster detectors and brighter synchrotrons, become a hot research topic. Ambient-Pressure X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (AP-XPS) is a method that, through clever engineering, lets researchers do spectroscopic surface measurements under pressure conditions that otherwise would not be compatible with this type of study. It is especially important for catalysts where the function is closely connected to the operating pressure. Combining the two, time resolution with AP-XPS, at the HIPPIE beamline, shows promise for a new era of surface science studies.

“The main difference between all past studies and what we have done at HIPPIE was that we decided to follow the reaction as it happens in real-time. In collaboration with the Synchrotron Radiation Research Division of the Lund University Physics Department, we have developed a suite of time-resolved tools that allow us to look at chemical reactions on surfaces under operando conditions with high enough time resolution to detect the formation of intermediate species. The key parts of the development are the ability to initiate the reaction on the whole sample at the same time with a very fast valve that was developed at MAX IV and the ability to follow the response of the system under such a perturbation with a very high time resolution. We have pushed the AP-XPS experiment to its extreme and can obtain high-quality data with 20–40 µs time resolution. This has never been achieved before with chemical perturbations in an AP-XPS setup,” says Shavorskiy.

The researchers were able to follow the reaction closely and found the actual reaction mechanism, which, with a less exact method, could have been easily missed in overlapping signatures. They foresee that the method will be very attractive to their colleagues in the catalysis and surface science communities in the future.

“When we analyzed the collected spectra, we were able to identify a small region in time when the formation of oxygen bonded to metallic platinum was delayed with respect to the formation of platinum oxide. The reason for this, we reckon, is its very high activity. It never lives long enough on the surface to be detected as it is immediately consumed in the reaction. On the other hand, the platinum oxide is much less reactive, so it can stay on the surface unreacted, and we can detect it. 

Read more on MAX IV website

The brilliant art amongst our stars

The brilliant art amongst our stars

On 15 January 2025, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from NASA’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida bound for the Mare Crisium basin of the moon—carrying with it 47 artistic creations, including MAX IV colleague Filip Persson’s artwork, ‘MAX IV Control System’. The art will be part of humanity’s galactic impression to live for millions of years.

According to Persson, his artwork represents a new genre of art with requirements yet to be defined. “The idea with the genre ‘Technical Art’ is that a sufficiently complex machine can create art by being run in normal operation. So, no deliberate special run in order to create the art. It can, for example, be instabilities or other things creating a beautiful pattern.”

The work, curated for the MoonMars Museum project, was created with Python and Gephi software. All devices of the full control system of MAX IV along with all interconnections were extracted as a huge table. The table was then imported into Gephi as a node network and evolved using gravitational parameters, creating beautiful patterns resembling galaxies—a bit like a Big Bang but with the very different behaviour that all information about the control system and the connections remain intact.

“I have over the years seen a lot of beautiful graphs at MAX IV and I thought quite early, due to having a somewhat artistic mind, that it would be fun to do something with these images,” explained Filip Persson, who is MAX IV’s Assistant Head of Accelerator Operations.

The artworks are packaged both digitally, on a very resilient memory card, and analogue as laser etched into a nickel plate using state-of-the-art Nanofiche technology with 300 000 DPI resolution. The art is part of the company LifeShip’s payload called ‘Pyramid on the Moon’.

How does one define technical art? The parameters are something that Persson aims to classify so that more people from around the world can contribute to the genre.

Read more on MAXIV website

A new way to look at thyroid tumours

A new way to look at thyroid tumours

Follicular tumours in the thyroid can be difficult to diagnose as the entire follicle capsule needs to be sliced and inspected in order to detect ruptures. The current protocol involves cytology and histology, but these have limitations. Researchers from Uppsala University (UU) and Lund University (LU) are investigating the potential use of synchrotron-based virtual histology for 3D inspection of the follicle capsule at MAX IV.

Thyroid tumours can be either benign follicular adenoma or malignant follicular carcinoma. The ability to assess the difference is crucial. Although cytological analysis can effectively distinguish between benign and malignant, it is unable to detect key diagnostic indicators of follicular carcinoma such as capsular breach or vascular invasion. In addition, further detailed histopathological analysis following diagnostic surgery is often required, which can be meticulous and time-consuming due to the number of thin slices necessary to correctly identify whether malignant indicators are present. Lund University Associate Professor Martin Bech and resident Physician Matilda Annebäck and Chief Physician Olov Norlén from Uppsala University conducted a pilot study at MAX IV’s DanMAX beamline to determine the applicability of a new and improved assessment method for thyroid tumours.

Synchrotron radiation-based micro-tomography (SRµCT) is an imaging technique that enables 3D mapping of internal structures of materials. At DanMAX, the field of view is 1.2 x 1.2 mm, allowing analysis of the thyroid lobes and, with exceptional spatial resolution, enabling detailed 3D visualization of the thyroid tissue.

Learn more about open access for academic research at MAX IV.

Are you interested in industrial research and collaboration possibilities? Read more here.

The goal is that SRµCT will detect those diagnostic features that are missed or difficult to spot with current available methods. Another advantage of SRµCT is that it is non-destructive to the sample, and thus will allow for subsequent histological analysis for comparative analysis between the two techniques

This will be the first study using SRµCT for follicular thyroid tumours, although it has been conducted elsewhere in other tissues from the lung, heart and brain. The challenge in the current experiment was the sample size in relation to the beam size. As a proof-of-concept experiment, it was deemed successful.

MAX IV is an ideal location for clinical experiments in Sweden as ethical approval often has stipulations about transport of samples outside of the country. The study samples were used for diagnostic purposes thus it was not difficult to obtain the ethics approval.

The collaboration between experts in the thyroid field (Department of Surgical Sciences; Endocrine Surgery, UU), and experts in SRµCT (X-Ray Phase Contrast Group, LU), arose after Martin Bech presented at Uppsala about the possibilities at MAX IV, with Olof Norlén in attendance at the talk.

This is a great example of how many studies are conducted at MAX IV and illustrates the need for mixed expertise in order to conduct these experiments, as the researchers from UU have the clinical expertise but were new users at MAX IV. As both parties are part of academic institutions, they were able to apply for free access to MAX IV through the peer-reviewed process which negates the need to apply for separate experimental funding.

SRµCT experiments generate substantial data, which is currently being analysed by the pathologist at UU and compared to their histological findings. More detailed data analysis will be another collaboration between the two research groups with the ultimate goal to publish the findings. This technique is of great interest to pathologists and has further implications both in the research and clinical fields.

Read more on MAXIV website

Image: Thyroid tumour sample at DanMAX beamline.

 Credit: MAX IV

Two-dimensional gold nanostructures

Two-dimensional gold nanostructures

An international team of researchers from Hokkaido University, Lund University, MAX IV Laboratory in Sweden, and Diamond Light Source in the UK has made significant progress in synthesising nanostructured two-dimensional gold films. This development could pave the way for advances in catalysis, electronics, and energy conversion.

The research team utilized a bottom-up approach, growing gold monolayers on iridium substrates with boron atoms embedded at the interface. This method produced nearly freestanding gold layers with hexagonal nanoscale patterns, stabilized by boron. The resulting films exhibited notable thermal stability and distinctive electronic properties, addressing the challenges of stabilizing two-dimensional metallic structures.

The facilities at MAX IV Laboratory were central to the research. The MAX IV STM Laboratory facilitated the synthesis of the gold films and their topographic characterization, while the Surface- and Materials Science end station at the FlexPES beamline enabled detailed analysis using techniques such as X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS), and Angular Resolved Photoelectron Spectroscopy (ARPES). These complementary approaches provided valuable insights into the structure, bonding, and electronic properties of the films.

“The combination of synthesis and advanced characterization at MAX IV, particularly the ability to study atomic arrangement and surface chemistry in the same sample, was essential to this work,” said Dr. Alexei Preobrajenski of Lund University. 

Read more on MAX IV website

Multitasking microalgae fight pollution

Multitasking microalgae fight pollution

Microalgae for pollution removal is the topic of two recent studies by MAX IV users. The storage mechanism of phosphorous in the algae was investigated in detail contributing to method development for pollution removal from wastewater. The phosphorous-containing algae can, in turn, be used to soak up metal pollutants.

Phosphorous is used as a fertiliser to enhance crop yields in agriculture. It is needed to feed a growing population but can also become a pollutant if uncontrolled. Agriculture and wastewater treatment processes are the primary sources of phosphate pollution and eutrophication, causing oxygen depletion and loss of aquatic life. 

It is known that microalgae can take up and store phosphorous from water sources. In recent studies, researchers have investigated the storage process in more detail to optimise it and find uses for the algae after they have done their cleaning. Imaging with X-rays revealed the granules that form when microalgae store phosphorous.

“We found that the granules are composed of an interesting polyphosphate compound, inositol hexaphosphate, also known as phytic acid. This compound is found in plant seeds such as grains, nuts or pulses. It is interesting that algae can also store phosphate [editors note: a chemical compound of phosphorous] in this form. The storage is triggered by first starving the algae of phosphate and then giving them a surplus,” says Prof Richard Haverkamp from Massey University in New Zealand, one of the researchers behind the study.

The phytic acid has further uses for pollution removal, so the microalgae seem to come with a bonus.

“Because phytic acid is known to react with some metal ions, we can use the existing knowledge about phytic acid reactions with metals to predict which metal ions might be able to be absorbed readily by these algae containing phosphate granules. We have just started investigating this as a way to clean up water polluted with these metals or to remove valuable metals from aqueous sources,” prof Haverkamp continues.

The researchers scanned the whole microalgae through the X-ray beam to measure the phosphate content using a method called Scanning Transmission X-ray Microscopy (STXM). 

“STXM has the ability to provide images with elemental and chemical information on the features present in the image. So whereas in transmission electron microscopy it is possible to see an object that we can label a granule, in STXM we can image that object but can also measure that it contains phosphorus and that this phosphorus is a specific compound of phosphorus,” says Prof Haverkamp.

The researchers saw the phosphate-rich granules with better than 60 nanometres resolution. They complemented the analysis by studying a sample where the microalgae cells were mixed together to investigate the form of phosphorous compounds in larger detail. However, phytic acid was the only phosphorus compound found. They studied two different kinds of algae. 

Read more on MAXIV website

Image: Algae (green) with the phosphate granules (blue).

Acoustofluidic Crystallography: The next leap in serial crystallography at MAX IV

Acoustofluidic Crystallography: The next leap in serial crystallography at MAX IV

The innovative project “Acoustofluidic Crystallography” (AFX) is set to revolutionize the field of serial crystallography (SX) by introducing a novel sample delivery method that promises to enhance the efficiency and reliability of experiments conducted at synchrotrons and X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs). This cutting-edge research is a collaborative effort involving KTH Royal Institute of Technology, DESY, and MAX IV, funded by the LEAPS-INNOV initiative (GA: 101004728).

The LEAPS-INNOV innovation pilot aims to develop the cutting-edge technology to support groundbreaking research and drive innovation, while strengthening the European scientific network and establishing long-lasting industry connections. As part of these efforts, a dedicated Work Package for Co-Creation, WP9, has been implemented. With an aim to establish new co-creation structures allowing for joint development of key technologies and novel access modes through seed funding for pilot implementation studies, a call for project proposals was processed. The result was a selection of 3 co-creation pilots, including the AFX project.

The essence of AFX

At the heart of AFX lies the integration of acoustofluidics with state-of-the-art injection nozzles, aimed at reducing sample consumption and preventing clogging—a common issue in current SX methods. The project leverages a piezoelectric actuator to generate a 2D ultrasonic standing wave, which focuses microcrystals into a single line within a silica capillary. This setup, combined with a flow cell or dual flow-focusing nozzle (DFFN), ensures precise and efficient sample delivery.

“We are combining acoustics with microfluidics to improve sample delivery of protein crystals,” explained Jonas Sellberg, coordinator of the AFX project. “Our goal is to reduce sample waste and make delivery more reliable, preventing crystals from getting trapped during the process.”

Read more at MAXIV website

Image: Varun Kumar Rajendran, post-doctoral fellow with the AFX project, installs a first prototype of the acoustofluidic device at MAX IV’s MicroMAX beamline during AFX beamtime in June 2024.

Credit: MAX IV

Gut bacteria and atomic structure tell the story of universal blood

Gut bacteria and atomic structure tell the story of universal blood

In clinical practice it is well established that type O blood, which lacks A and B antigens on the red blood cells, can be safely used in universal blood transfusions for any ABO blood group. Serious or even fatal immune reactions may occur if one receives incompatible blood from a donor. How might we mitigate the risks for low donor supply or unusable blood in emergencies? Research groups from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) and Lund University now report in Nature Microbiology, an enzymatic conversion method to create ABO-universal blood, a major leap towards human blood that could potentially enable live-saving blood donations to anyone, without negative immune response or the need for matched donor-recipient blood types. Data for the structural determination of key enzymes used in conversion of the ABO-universal blood was collected at MAX IV’s BioMAX beamline.

The researchers investigated a previously unexplored aspect of blood compatibility with enzymatically converted (ECO) blood. “What is different is that we targeted extensions of the A and B antigens. Our work has uniquely addressed these extensions, using the specialist human gut symbiont Akkermansia muciniphila,” said Maher Abou Hachem, co-lead scientist of the study, and Professor in the Department of Biotechnology and Biomedicine at DTU. “This inspiration is a result of an informal meeting in the Nordic Glycobiology Seminar, where two PhD students met and learned about the discovery of the group B extended antigen by co-lead scientist and Professor of transfusion medicine Martin L. Olsson and his group at Lund University, and the work of my group on the mucin utilisation strategy of Akkermansia muciniphila.”

There is tremendous progress in the crystallographic field. Now that a single person easily can determine and analyse 2-4 structures it has become a physical approach which is a natural part of every engineering project. — Jens Preben Morth

Enzymatic conversion of blood type B was first demonstrated in 1982, with promising initial experiments using an α-galactosidase to cleave B antigens from coffee beans. Lund University Professor Olsson and Professor Henrik Clausen at Copenhagen University later discovered bacterial enzymes able to cleave A and B antigens from the surface of red blood cells (RBC). The latest development is an efficient two-step removal of the A-antigen from Stephen Withers’ laboratory at the University of British Columbia. The type of antigens (terminal motifs on sugar chains) on the cell surface determines an individual’s blood type, A, B, AB, or O, and the compatibility between blood donors and recipients.

Discovery crystallised

The research groups investigated carbohydrate-active enzyme (CAZy) families with known activities and expressed their enzymes. After tests on model oligosaccharides, a panel of A. muciniphila enzymes was selected based on their excellent mucin-degrading properties, assayed, and further optimised for cleavage of RBC antigens. Their work produced two enzyme blends for RBC conversion: one for blood group A antigens and one for group B antigens, including their carbohydrate extensions.

With X-ray diffraction measurements at BioMAX, the group has analysed six of the 22 enzymes to date, according to DTU Biotechnology Professor and study researcher Jens Preben Morth. “While some of these enzymes have been relatively easy to crystallise, others have been recalcitrant, but the substantial crystallisation efforts resulted in a large bounty as they revealed induced fit dynamics which are crucial for understanding the details of enzyme mode of action, in addition to revealing previously unknown carbohydrate binding motifs in novel carbohydrate binding domain that will define a new family.”

Read more on MAXIV website

Image: Donating blood. Type O blood is typically given if the recipient’s blood type is unknown

Credit: Nguyễn Hiệp / Unsplash

Nano-focused X-rays aid integrated circuit development

Nano-focused X-rays aid integrated circuit development

A modern chip contains billions of transistors. The size of individual features is just a couple of tens of nanometres. With decreasing size follows increased demands on material control and characterisation down to the atomic scale. The nano-focused X-ray beam at beamline NanoMAX prove to be a useful tool for investigating electromigration, a significant cause of failure in on-chip interconnects.

Electromigration and failure
Copper is the most commonly used material for connecting transistors on a chip. The current being pushed through the tiny copper wires cause a phenomenon called electromigration. Electromigration is a form of mass transport driven by the flow of electrons, where atoms migrate from one end of the copper structure to the other, changing the structure and leading to short circuits or disconnects. When the wire gets smaller it means that a higher current will be pushed through and the resulting electromigration can cause failure in the circuit.

“Electromigration is one of the biggest reliability issues in integrated circuits and although it has been widely studied the interplay between the different forces that drive or counteract electromigration is not completely understood,” says Professor Sten Vollebregt from Delft University of Technology.

Nano focus reveals structural details
Copper structures of different lengths and thicknesses were fabricated on top of a substrate, a piece of silicon prepared with layers of silicon dioxide and titanium nitride, to simulate the situation on the chip. The structures were heated and had current run through them to induce electromigration.

After the preparation, the samples were investigated at the NanoMAX beamline using a beam focused into a 62 nanometre diameter spot. The experiment gives information about the distance between the atoms in the copper, which in turn reveals stresses in the material.

“We found two different stages, where the stress is initially controlled by the difference in thermal expansion between the silicon substrate and the copper line structure, but later the stresses developing during electromigration become dominant. A better understanding of the stress within the interconnect during electromigration will allow the development of improved models, resulting in better prediction of the reliability. This will ultimately help manufacturers design more reliable and perhaps even smaller chips,” says Magnus Colliander from Chalmers University of Technology.

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MAX IV: Record year for research

MAX IV: Record year for research

MAX IV is making significant societal contributions in terms of record-high scientific productivity. In 2023, the number of publications increased by 51% compared to the previous year, and the number of unique users increased by 31%. Moreover, the number of proposals submitted in the most recent Open Call was higher than ever.

The data from 2023 indicates a rapidly growing interest to conduct research at MAX IV.

The latest Open Call, which closed in March 2024, received an all-time high of 459 proposals from national and international researchers who applied to use MAX IV this autumn.

The total number of proposals submitted in the 2023 Open Calls (717) was 14% higher than in 2022. 

These statistics are published in the MAX IV Annual Report 2023, which is now released.

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Image: The main MAX IV building

Credit: Johan Persson