Ultrafast dissociation of molecules studied at BESSY II

Ultrafast dissociation of molecules studied at BESSY II

For the first time, an international team has tracked at BESSY II how heavy molecules – in this case bromochloromethane – disintegrate into smaller fragments when they absorb X-ray light. Using a newly developed analytical method, they were able to visualise the ultrafast dynamics of this process. In this process, the X-ray photons trigger a “molecular catapult effect”: light atomic groups are ejected first, similar to projectiles fired from a catapult, while the heavier atoms – bromine and chlorine – separate more slowly.

When X-rays hit molecules, they can knock electrons out of certain orbitals and into extremely high-energy states, breaking chemical bonds. This often happens ultra rapidly, in just a few femtoseconds (10-15 s). While this phenomenon has been studied in light molecules such as ammonia, oxygen, hydrochloric acid or simple carbon compounds, it has hardly been studied in molecules with heavier atoms.

A team from France and Germany has now studied the rapid decay of molecules containing halogens. They focused on a molecule in which bromine and chlorine atoms are linked by a light bridge – an alkylene group (CH2). The measurements were made at the XUV beamline of BESSY II.

Read more on HZB website

Image: The X-ray photons trigger a ‘molecular catapult effect’: light atomic groups are ejected first, similar to projectiles shot from a catapult, while the heavier atoms – bromine and chlorine – separate much more slowly. The image was printed on the cover of “The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters”.

Credit: The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters

Not All Gaps Are Created Equal

Not All Gaps Are Created Equal

In a charge density wave (CDW), conduction electrons in a metal (typically a low-dimensional material) arrange themselves in a regular pattern, sometimes accompanied by lattice distortions. One material that undergoes a CDW transition is a compound of tantalum, selenium, and iodine [(TaSe4)2I]. Its quasi-one-dimensional structure consists of TaSe4 molecular chains interspersed with I– ionic chains.

The CDW transition in (TaSe4)2I is of particular interest because it’s potentially a mechanism that could lead to a spontaneous transformation into an “axion” state of matter. Axions are hypothetical particles that were proposed as a way to solve a well-known problem in particle physics. But the concept has crossed over to condensed matter physics, as a way to describe emergent properties in topological materials.

Prevailing theories predict that the CDW transition in (TaSe4)2I—a type of topological material known as a Weyl semimetal—should lead to a dispersion gap at points where linear Weyl bands intersect, but this has never been confirmed experimentally through angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), because of difficulties arising from a very weak ARPES intensity near the Fermi level.

To address this, a team led by Meng-Kai Lin (National Central University, Taiwan) and Tai-Chang Chiang (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) re-examined the electronic structure of (TaSe4)2I at Advanced Light Source Beamline 10.0.1 and other facilities, using high-statistics ARPES to bring out subtle features in the data.

Read more on ALS website

Image: Left: ARPES map for (TaSe4)2I in the normal phase at room temperature. Right: Corresponding ARPES map in the CDW phase at a low temperature.

Detecting osteoarthritis before patients need joint replacement

Detecting osteoarthritis before patients need joint replacement

An imaging technique currently available only at synchrotrons like the Canadian Light Source at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) could one day enable doctors to detect osteoarthritis while patients can still be treated with medication – before they require joint replacement — thanks to research by USask scientist Brian Eames and colleagues.

In a pair of studies, Eames, a professor of Anatomy, Physiology, and Pharmacology in the USask College of Medicine, found that phase contrast imaging (PCI) detects very subtle changes in cartilage. He says the technique, which takes advantage of the high-energy light produced by the synchrotron, provides “fantastic” imaging of cartilage.

In the most recent study, Eames and colleagues (Daniel Chen, College of Engineering; Ali Honoramooz, Western College of Veterinary Medicine; Bill Dust, College of Medicine; and PhD student Hamed Alizadeh) used PCI to determine how well 3D-bioprinted cartilage could repair damaged joints. They compared the performance of cells impregnated in two different materials – one a squishy material called hydrogel and the other a hybrid construct combining hydrogel with a stiff plastic material. They hypothesized that the hybrid construct would shield the cells from forces in the recovering joint, so that the proper type of cartilage (hyaline) could form.

When they implanted these materials into animal joints, the researchers found that both helped new cartilage form, with the hydrogel doing slightly better by some measures. The hybrid, however, had one advantage: It formed less fibrocartilage, which was consistent with the team’s hypothesis. Fibrocartilage is a tougher form of cartilage that is created when joints are under stress. Having less fibrocartilage provides better joint function.

Read more on CLS website

15 years of European XFEL

15 years of European XFEL

European XFEL, one of the world’s most powerful X-ray sources, is celebrating the 15th anniversary of the international treaty that laid the foundation for its creation this year. On 30 November 2009, ten European countries jointly decided to implement the ambitious research project and create an internationally accessible research facility that would offer new, unparalleled research opportunities to scientists from all over the world.

“European XFEL has become a symbol of successful scientific collaboration across national borders,” says Thomas Feurer, Managing Director and Chairman of the Management Board of European XFEL.

The X-ray laser, whose first light beam was generated in 2017, has since enabled ground-breaking research worldwide. Researchers from disciplines like physics, chemistry, biology, medicine and materials science benefit now from the facility at seven instruments, whose intense X-ray light beam offers unique insights into the molecular structure of matter and dynamic electronic or chemical processes in real time. Thanks to its high beam power, molecular structures and chemical reactions can be observed with unrivalled precision and speed, far exceeding conventional technologies. Most recently, researchers were able to show that the European XFEL can generate record-breaking X-ray pulses in the attosecond range with terawatt power.

The construction of the facility was supported by strong partnerships right from the start: the close collaboration with the Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY) in Hamburg played a decisive role in the realisation and operation of the European XFEL.

Read more on European XFEL website

Image: Ministers, state secretaries and other government representatives from ten partner countries met in November 2009 in the Hamburg City Hall to sign the international European XFEL agreement.

Credit: European XFEL

An innovative platform for NO₂ detection for cleaner air and safer cities

An innovative platform for NO₂ detection for cleaner air and safer cities

An international collaboration involving scientists from Italy, China, Czech Republic, Romania, Taiwan has highlighted how indium sulfide (InS), with its moderate band gap and layered structure, holds great promise for NO2 gas sensing.

Nitrogen dioxide, a harmful gas linked to respiratory and cardiovascular issues, is particularly challenging to detect due to the need for sensors that combine high sensitivity, precise selectivity, and stability under diverse conditions. Traditional materials, such as metal-oxide semiconductors, are widely used but often lack the required sensitivity and selectivity, especially for NO2 detection. In contrast, InS meets these requirements, also showing an evolution of its surface under oxidative conditions (e.g., in the air), implying chemical transformations that improve sensing performance. The sub-stoichiometric metal oxide formed upon oxidation results to be ideal for gas adsorption, with the ultimate obtainment of an ultrasensitive NO2 detection. Moreover, when exfoliated into nanosheets, 2D InS gets an intrinsically higher amount of active sites that enhances interaction with gases, making it particularly suitable for selective detection of NO2 in real-time air quality monitoring applications, as demonstrated by gas-sensing tests carried out with an operation temperature of 350°C.

To investigate chemical transformations in InS under oxidative conditions, Scanning Photoemission Microscopy (SPEM) at the ESCA Microscopy beamline of Elettra allowed real-time observation of the material as it actively interacted with NO2. Under these operando conditions, the surface of InS develops an oxygen-deficient In2O3-x layer, with nanometric thickness detected by transmission electron microscopy, through a sulfur abstraction process. This reaction, which removes sulfur atoms from the structure, creates highly active sites on the InS surface. The high spatial resolution of SPEM enabled direct observation of these nanoscale chemical changes on the surface of InS nanosheets, providing real-time visualizations of active sites as they formed.

Read more on Elettra website

Composite coarsening changes material properties

Composite coarsening changes material properties

Eutectic materials, naturally occurring composites of two or more crystals, are used in engine blocks, solder and 3D printing. Often, such applications involve heating the materials, which leads to changes in their microstructure that can affect their mechanical properties, such as strength. Using the Advanced Photon Source, a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science user facility at DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory, a team of researchers has learned how the microstructure evolves upon heating, which may allow them to change the synthesis of eutectics to improve those mechanical properties.

They studied a model silver-aluminum-copper alloy composed of three phases, one silver-rich, one aluminum-rich and one copper-rich. They heated the material to 773K and annealed it for four hours at that temperature. The material started out as three crystals that were interwoven in a structure resembling a ladder. When heated, the material tries to find its lowest energy state by lengthening the interfaces between the crystals. The microstructure coarsens, with some of the crystals becoming larger at the expense of others.

Much of the theory about eutectics is based on microstructures that have a small volume of one phase embedded in another. That theory predicts that the material would be self-similar, appearing identical at different size scales. In the model system, with three phases making up equal fractions of the volume, researchers were surprised to find no self-similarity. Instead, the microstructure evolved in part by coalescence. Rods of the silver-rich phase, for instance, would grow and become thicker until they touched each other, then they would merge into one rod. That evolution was irreversible. Such a change in the microstructure alters the mechanical properties of the material.

Additionally, the three phases did not coarsen independently of each other, but rather affected how the others evolved. When neighboring silver-aluminum rods coalesce, they pushed out the copper-rich channels that had existed between them. That is one reason for the lack of self-similarity in the evolving material. 

Read more on Argonne website

Image: A eutectic material (left) contains three phases—silver-aluminum (red), aluminum-copper (blue) and aluminum (green). At an elevated temperature, the Ag2Al rods coarsen over time from zero hours (center) to 4 hours (right), where they have coalesced.

Credit: the University of Michigan

A promising step forward for the deployment of sodium-ion batteries

A promising step forward for the deployment of sodium-ion batteries

CNRS chemists synthesized and studied new compositions of materials for positive electrodes of sodium-ion batteries that constitute a sustainable alternative to lithium-ion batteries. These new electrodes have an increased energy density. A scientific advance recently published in the journal Nature Materials.

Faced with the growing demand for energy storage systems, high-performance lithium-ion batteries have become unbeatable on the market. However, their environmental impact and the uneven distribution of lithium resources raise questions. Their “cousins”, sodium-ion batteries, seem to be a promising alternative given the abundance and more homogeneous distribution of sodium. The various possible electrode materials are thus the subject of numerous studies to increase their performance, power and energy densities. In particular, NaSICON (sodium super ionic conductor) type materials composed of sodium, vanadium and phosphate are attracting keen interest as positive electrode materials because they have a particularly robust crystalline structure.

Read more on ALBA website

Scientists reveal pore formation dynamics in copper laser welding

Scientists reveal pore formation dynamics in copper laser welding

Scientists from academia and industry have identified four ways in which pores form in copper laser welding, thanks to in-situ X-ray imaging experiments at the ESRF combined with multi-physics simulation. The results provide clues for optimisation of the manufacturing of copper components through this method. The results are out in the International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture.

Copper is widely used for components in electric vehicles, energy storage or electronic devices because of it is excellent electrical and thermal conductivity. However, these same properties—high thermal conductivity and low infrared light absorption—pose challenges for traditional welding techniques, often leading to inconsistent results or defects.

The technique of laser beam welding overcomes some of these difficulties by delivering high-intensity, focused energy that rapidly heats and melts copper, enabling deep, narrow welds with minimal heat-affected zones. Its high processing speed and ability to be finely tuned for different material thicknesses and conditions make it ideal for modern manufacturing demands.

However, defects such as pores still happen, especially microscopic pores. Now scientists led by Technische Universität Ilmenau and TU Wien, and with the collaboration of the company COHERENT, leader in laser solutions and photonics technologies, and the ESRF, have unveiled the dynamics behind pore formation.

The findings show that pore formation is driven by four different mechanisms: bulging, spiking, upwelling waves at the keyhole rear wall and melt pool ejections. In particular, bulging takes place at the rear keyhole wall due to dynamic melt flow; spiking occurs when rapid keyhole penetration causes detachment and solidification at the tip; pores travel due to chaotic vapor flows and bulges in the melt pool and finally, depression pores are linked to melt pool ejection and dynamic keyhole pressure.

A special laser beam shape, called a concentric core-ring profile, was also analysed and found to help make the welding process more stable and reduce defects like pores.

The team used high-speed synchrotron X-ray imaging at beamline ID19, where they acquired 20,000 images per second to identify the processes in pore formation during laser beam welding.

The experiment was very challenging, with 12 engineers to install the laser welding instrument, which contained two lasers and an ESRF in-house developed gas nozzle. Alexander Rack, scientist in charge of the beamline ID19, explains the complexity of the set-up: “This is among the most demanding experiments done so far: we had to install dedicated power lines to feed the big laser needed for welding. Experiments with sample environments are core expertise of ESRF, and thanks to our experience with complex set-ups such as furnaces, gas launchers or high-pressure cells; we are perfectly adapted for this study”. He adds: “The white undulator light with the new EBS is bright enough to shine light through 3 mm of steel while welding, and we were able to take high-speed X-ray movies with microseconds exposure time”.

They then compared these results with multi-physics modeling simulations. This physics-based model, closely aligned with experimental data, allows researchers to validate elusive phenomena with unprecedented accuracy.

Read more on ESRF website

Image: Leander Schmidt, from Technische Universität Ilmenau, during the experiment on ID19.

Credit: S. Candé.

Toxic behaviour: why do tuberculosis bacteria poison themselves?

Toxic behaviour: why do tuberculosis bacteria poison themselves?

Tuberculosis bacteria halt their growth with self-toxins that could inspire novel therapeutics

Stealthy bacteria slow down their division when they invade the body to avoid drawing the immune system’s attention. Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the world’s leading bacterial infectious killer, takes a seemingly counterintuitive approach to that end. M. tuberculosis expresses self-toxins that damage its DNA and shut down growth as well as antitoxins to later help recuperate and resume proliferation. By studying these toxin-antitoxin pairs, Durham University microbiologist Professor Tim Blower aims to find ways to mimic the self-toxins with new therapeutics

By conducting X-ray crystallography at Diamond’s I04 beamline, Blower and his colleagues uncovered the structure of toxin-antitoxin complexes, providing insight into how they regulate DNA damaging activity. The findings reveal that the protein pair potentially form two types of complexes. A grouping of two toxins and four antitoxins dominated at body temperature, whereas an equal pairing of two and two were more common in colder conditions, which may reflect how the proteins come together when bacteria live in the environment. These findings change our perspective on how the toxins and antitoxins operate, bringing researchers closer to designing new drugs against a pandemic microbe that continuously evolves resistance to existing antibiotics. 

Each year, Mycobacterium tuberculosis leads approximately 10 million people to endure a bloody cough, exhaustion, and fever, and it causes over one million deaths. Doctors typically prescribe patients a course of four to six antibiotics to clear the infection, but the bacteria evolve mechanisms to resist the effects of the drugs. As many as 2.5 percent of tuberculosis patients carry variants of the bacteria resistant to the four most common first-line antibiotics, and that proportion is expected to climb if researchers don’t develop other therapeutics that could kill resistant strains.    

Poison control

Blower and the team from Durham University and Newcastle University study mechanisms the bacteria use to limit their own growth in pursuit of inspiration for new drug candidates. Specifically, they focus on an enzyme that controls DNA organisation in the cell and a pair of toxins and antitoxins that regulate this enzyme’s function. 

Bacteria and eukaryotes (for instance, humans), organise DNA in the cell differently. Eukaryotic DNA is tightly packaged in the nucleus by histone proteins that wind it up into compact chromosomes. Bacteria, on the other hand, lack histones and rely on DNA to undergo a process called supercoiling. Like how a wound-up rubber band contracts into a small volume, bacterial DNA winds up into a condensed coil to save space. However, supercoiled DNA needs constant maintenance, which involves occasional unwinding and rewinding of the molecules. To this end, an essential enzyme called DNA gyrase cuts the DNA, allows it to untwist, and glues the cut ends back together again, so they can coil again. 

Repairing the DNA breaks is essential to the bacteria’s survival because it avoids the build-up of harmful DNA damage and mutations, but sometimes M. tuberculosis interferes with the process. It achieves this using a toxin-antitoxin system that inhibits DNA gyrase. Scientists are still uncertain about the biological role of the toxin, Blower said, but one hypothesis is that by partially shutting down bacterial growth, it prevents antibiotics that target growth machinery from working. Another is that the toxin helps quiescent bacteria evade immune detection as slow-growing microbes tend to slip under the radar. The antitoxin relieves the bacteria, allowing those that survived the accumulation of DNA breaks to seal them back together and resume growth when conditions in the body become favourable. 

Researchers developing new therapeutics are drawn to these systems. Suggesting scientists could develop copycat drugs, Professor Blower said: 

If these toxins are so effective at killing, then we should take advice from nature and work out how they work.

Read more on Diamond website

Squeeze it! High-power attosecond X-ray pulses at megahertz repetition rates

Squeeze it! High-power attosecond X-ray pulses at megahertz repetition rates

A research team at European XFEL and DESY has achieved a major advance in X-ray science by generating unprecedented high-power attosecond hard X-ray pulses at megahertz repetition rates. This advancement opens new frontiers in the study of ultrafast electron dynamics and enables non-destructive measurements at the atomic level.

Researchers have demonstrated single-spike hard X-ray pulses with pulse energies exceeding 100 microjoules and pulse durations of only a few hundred attoseconds. An attosecond is one quintillionth (10-18) of a second—a timescale that allows scientists to capture even the fastest electron movements in matter.

“These high-power attosecond X-ray pulses could open new avenues for studying matter at the atomic scale,” says Jiawei Yan, physicist at European XFEL and lead author of the study published in Nature Photonics. “With these unique X-rays, we can perform truly damage-free measurements of structural and electronic properties. This paves the way for advanced studies like attosecond crystallography, allowing us to observe electronic dynamics in real space.”

Traditional methods for generating such ultra-short hard X-ray pulses required dramatically reducing the electron bunch charge to tens of picocoulombs, which limited the pulse energy and practical use. The team developed a self-chirping method, utilizing the collective effects of electron beams and specialized beam transport systems at the European XFEL. This approach enables the generation of attosecond X-ray pulses at terawatt-scale peak power and megahertz repetition rates without reducing the electron bunch charge.

“By combining ultra-short pulses with megahertz repetition rates, we can now collect data much faster and observe processes that were previously hidden from view”, says Gianluca Geloni, group leader of the FEL physics group at the European XFEL. “This development promises to transform research across multiple scientific fields, especially for atomic-scale imaging of protein molecules and materials and investigating nonlinear X-ray phenomena.”

Read more on European XFEL website

Image: Scientists at European XFEL and DESY produce high-power attosecond X-ray pulses at megahertz repetition rates. With the help of special beam optics relativistic electrons (blue cloud) are strongly compressed (bright line in the centre). This leads to a very bright, high-power X-ray pulse on the attosecond timescale.

Credit: European XFEL; Illustration: Tobias Wüstefeld

Combatting Food Fraud Using Nuclear Technology 

Combatting Food Fraud Using Nuclear Technology 

To help address food fraud, a training workshop was held to advance the ANSTO-led project “Combatting Food Fraud Using Nuclear Technology (CFF)”, as part of the Forum for Nuclear Cooperation in Asia (FNCA) in Sydney on 14-16 October 2024. 

Food Fraud

In today’s complex food supply chain, transparency is more critical than ever. Food fraud—intentional alteration, misrepresentation, or substitution of products—undermines food security and poses risks to the environment, health, and consumer trust. 

This pervasive issue affects both developed and developing countries, with less-developed nations particularly vulnerable. The World Health Organization reports that around 1.6 million people fall ill daily from contaminated food, resulting in 420,000 deaths annually. Additionally, global producers face estimated losses of $40 to $50 billion each year.

Dr Debashish Mazumder, Stable Isotope Ecologist, ANSTO, who is the leader of this project, said this project aims to undertake research to establish a food provenance technology platform and a federated database for key priority food items to mitigate incidents of fraud in the supply chain. 

As part of this initiative, previous online training workshops in 2023 led to an agreement on the food items each country will use for the project: a common seafood commodity (Tiger prawn) and an additional item specific to each participating country. All participating countries which harvest prawns will contribute samples. Other food to be investigated include turmeric, rice, mango, honey, coffee, plum, meat and milk.

The outcomes of this project will contribute to the region through developing scientific capability in the application of nuclear analysis techniques in food traceability. 

Representatives from the participating countries, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, The Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam sent participants to Australia, with representatives from Japan attending virtually. Two observers from Fiji, who expressed interest in the project, also attended in person.

The goal of this workshop was to build upon previous engagements and discuss the methodological framework for the federated database of elemental fingerprints of food produce that each country will use during the project.

Read more on ANSTO website

Gut enzymes may explain differential disease and FDA-approved drug outcomes

Gut enzymes may explain differential disease and FDA-approved drug outcomes

Our bodies need neurotransmitters and hormones to stay healthy, but too much or too little can cause conditions such as breast cancer or Parkinson’s disease. Normally, excess neurotransmitters and hormones in the body are removed through excretion via the gut. A team of scientists has discovered a new class of enzymes from bacteria in our guts that can alter levels of serotonin, the “feel good” neurotransmitter, and estradiol, a sex hormone, among other compounds. The scientists also found that certain FDA-approved drugs can inhibit these bacterial enzymes. In this way, a cancer drug may inadvertently cause depression in some people by interfering with excretion and thereby initiating a change in their serotonin levels.

These surprising findings could explain why some people respond well to certain drugs and other people don’t, leading the way to more personalized drug dosing based on genomic analysis of the patient and the microbes in their gut. The researchers used the Advanced Photon Source (APS), a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science user facility at DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory.

Our bodies maintain equilibrium in part by ensuring that detrimental substances, such as environmental toxins or excess molecules created naturally when we eat too much turkey at Thanksgiving, are flushed away. To do this, the liver attaches a sugar to the unwanted molecule that serves as a “tag” for trafficking it to the gut for excretion.

For the past 10-15 years, many scientists have focused their investigations on one detrimental substance in particular—drugs that cause adverse reactions in the GI tract—to discover what makes them toxic. They found that certain microbes living in the gut feed off the sugar attached to the detrimental substance by using an enzyme that removes the sugar for microbial growth. Rather than being excreted, the detrimental substance, freed of its sugar – or “reactivated,” in scientific language – remained in the body, causing off-target effects, from irritable bowel syndrome to Crohn’s disease.

Little was known, however, about how gut microbes were behaving toward naturally-occurring molecules like hormones or neurotransmitters. To fill that gap, the research team turned their attention to dopamine and serotonin, as well as estradiol and thyroid hormones, to see if the gut microbes were processing them the way they processed toxic drugs.

A primary question was: Why do the bacteria have these enzymes in the first place? 

Through structural biology, in vitro biochemistry, multi-omics, and in vivo studies, the team showed that specific enzymes in the gut acted on these naturally occurring molecules in the same way they processed man-made molecules like drugs. This suggested to the scientists that sugar-linked natural chemicals like hormones and neurotransmitters play an important role in the microbial evolution of an enzyme that allows gut bacteria to take advantage of this resident food supply.

The enzyme in question is called GUS, or beta-glucuronidase. Previous research had shown that certain types of FDA-approved drugs, including those that fight cancer and depression, inhibit a specific subset of gut microbial GUS enzymes. Different people have different types of microbes in their guts and, therefore, different GUS enzymes. The scientists wondered whether this could explain why different people react differently to these drugs: Might the difference lie in which enzymes were being inhibited and which enzymes were left to interfere with the body’s natural chemical balance, or homeostasis?  

The key answers lay in detailed studies using structural biology, a field that investigates how complex biological macromolecules do their job. Drugs usually have one target, but in the expansive gut microbiome, hundreds of different proteins can all do the same job. The scientists set out to understand on an atomic level why some GUS are more active than others.

Using the National Institute of General Medical Sciences and National Cancer Institute Structural Biology Facility (GM/CA) beamlines at 23-ID-B and 23-ID-D at the APS, the team collected data that enabled them to solve the crystal structures of various species of gut microbes in complex with various anticancer and antidepressant drugs. What they found not only surprised them but also doubled the pool of enzymes that matter – they’d discovered that a whole other class of enzymes, called C-Terminal Domain GUS (CTD), are critically efficient at processing the sugar-attached molecules and are very potently inhibited by certain drugs.

Read more on Argonne website

Image: Simpson et al. pinpoint the gut microbial enzymes (green) that reactivate neurotransmitters and hormones (yellow, orange, and purple) essential to homeostasis and to diseases ranging from cancer to anxiety. They also show that a range of FDA-approved drugs (blue) inhibit these enzymes and impact local and systemic hormone and neurotransmitters levels. The study highlights the indispensable role of gut microbes in endobiotic homeostasis and indicates that therapeutic disruption of this role promotes interindividual variabilities in drug response.

XPCS as a powerful tool for nanoparticles analysis in complex biological media

XPCS as a powerful tool for nanoparticles analysis in complex biological media

An article published by CNPEM researchers was featured on the Nano Letters scientific journal’s cover and explores how the X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy (XPCS) technique can distinguish protein corona formation from nanoparticle aggregation in complex biological media.

The innovative work, carried out at Sirius, expands analysis capacity in nanomedicine and highlights the XPCS potential to characterize nanoparticle interactions in biological environments in real time, providing a valuable resource for nanobiotechnology research and new biomedical materials development. 

The innovative nanoparticles applications in biomedicine

Nanoparticles are tiny structures, with dimensions generally between 1 and 100 nanometers. Due to its size, they can interact with cells, proteins and molecules in a highly precise way, which allows driven delivery of medicines and therapeutic agents. This allows, for example, for cancer treatments to be more effective, by releasing drugs directly into tumor cells, minimizing side effects on healthy tissues.

Furthermore, nanoparticles can be designed for responding to specific stimuli, such as pH, temperature or biological signs, allowing a controlled release of medicines only when necessary.

In the diagnosis area, nanoparticles offer new ways ​​to prematurely detect diseases. They can be linked to specific biomarkers that bind to molecular targets, making it easier to identify cancerous cells or the presence of viruses and bacteria, for example. 

The interaction between nanoparticles and proteins in biological systems

These applications, however, are conditioned to a predictable behavior of these nanoparticles in complex biological systems. In some cases, by coming into contact with biological fluids, such as blood, a protein coating can be formed around nanoparticles, a phenomenon known in biomedicine by the English term “protein corona”. 

This happens because nanoparticles attract proteins present in the biological environment, forming a “corona” or “crown” around its surface. The formation of this protein corona strongly influences how do nanoparticles interact with cells and tissues in the organism, which can affect its efficacy and safety in medical applications, such as drug therapies, diagnostics, and vaccine development. 

For these reasons, studying the protein corona formation and characteristics is crucial for the development of nanoparticles that are safe and effective for biomedical use. 

Limitations of optical techniques for analyzing these samples

Optical techniques, such as Fluorescence Correlation Spectroscopy (FCS) and Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), face significant limitations when analyzing nanoparticles in complex biological environments. One of the main limitations is the need for diluted and transparent samples, which makes it difficult to analyze nanoparticles in highly concentrated media, such as blood and body fluids. In complex media, particles and biomolecules can interfere with light propagation, causing spreading and excessive absorption, which compromises the accuracy of nanoparticle size and concentration measurements. 

Furthermore, optical techniques rely on nanoparticle specific properties, which limits its application to particles that present these specific characteristics. For example, in the FCS case, it is necessary that nanoparticles show fluorescence in order to be detected, restricting the technique’s use to fluorescent materials. This is one of the limitations that makes optical techniques less suitable to characterize nanoparticles under realistic conditions and in real time, as in unprocessed samples of biological fluids. 

XPCS: A powerful technique for nanoparticles analysis in complex media

The X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy (XPCS) technique appears as a good alternative by offering significant advantages for nanoparticle analysis in complex biological environments, overcoming many of the optical techniques limitations. One of its main advantages is the ability to analyze highly concentrated and complex samples, such as blood and other bodily fluids, without need for dilution or transparency.

Read more on CNPEM website

A powerful tool for nanoparticles analysis in complex biological media

A powerful tool for nanoparticles analysis in complex biological media

An article published by CNPEM researchers was featured on the Nano Letters scientific journal’s cover and explores how the X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy (XPCS) technique can distinguish protein corona formation from nanoparticle aggregation in complex biological media.

The innovative work, carried out at Sirius, expands analysis capacity in nanomedicine and highlights the XPCS potential to characterize nanoparticle interactions in biological environments in real time, providing a valuable resource for nanobiotechnology research and new biomedical materials development. 

The innovative nanoparticles applications in biomedicine

Nanoparticles are tiny structures, with dimensions generally between 1 and 100 nanometers. Due to its size, they can interact with cells, proteins and molecules in a highly precise way, which allows driven delivery of medicines and therapeutic agents. This allows, for example, for cancer treatments to be more effective, by releasing drugs directly into tumor cells, minimizing side effects on healthy tissues.

Furthermore, nanoparticles can be designed for responding to specific stimuli, such as pH, temperature or biological signs, allowing a controlled release of medicines only when necessary.

In the diagnosis area, nanoparticles offer new ways ​​to prematurely detect diseases. They can be linked to specific biomarkers that bind to molecular targets, making it easier to identify cancerous cells or the presence of viruses and bacteria, for example. 

The interaction between nanoparticles and proteins in biological systems

These applications, however, are conditioned to a predictable behavior of these nanoparticles in complex biological systems. In some cases, by coming into contact with biological fluids, such as blood, a protein coating can be formed around nanoparticles, a phenomenon known in biomedicine by the English term “protein corona”. 

This happens because nanoparticles attract proteins present in the biological environment, forming a “corona” or “crown” around its surface. The formation of this protein corona strongly influences how do nanoparticles interact with cells and tissues in the organism, which can affect its efficacy and safety in medical applications, such as drug therapies, diagnostics, and vaccine development. 

For these reasons, studying the protein corona formation and characteristics is crucial for the development of nanoparticles that are safe and effective for biomedical use. 

Read more on LNLS website

Image: Schematic representation of a functionalized SiO2 nanoparticle

Groundbreaking ceremony for new technology and start-up centre at DESY

Groundbreaking ceremony for new technology and start-up centre at DESY

Construction of the DESY Innovation Factory in the centre of Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld has begun.

A combined total of more than 8,500 square meters of workspace will be created in just three years of construction at two locations: the main site on the DESY campus and a second very close by in the Altona Innovation Park. Complex laboratories, offices, and open working environments will be built to optimally foster the flow and transfer of knowledge and technology from research to industry and society.

From 2027 onward, the DESY Innovation Factory will serve pre-founders, start-ups, and scale-ups, as well as partners from applied research and collaborations with industry as an innovation centre for life sciences, new materials, and quantum technologies. It will bolster a unique ecosystem in Germany in which these stakeholders can not only optimally develop their ideas, but also benefit from a wide range of networking, events, and advice.

“The DESY Innovation Factory offers founders excellent conditions to bring new ideas from research into practice even faster. In the heart of Science City, an important flagship for Hamburg’s new future-oriented district and our science location is being created. It will bring together bright minds from science and business to work together on sustainable solutions for pressing issues of the future,” says Katharina Fegebank, Second Mayor of Hamburg and Senator of the Science, Research, Equality and Districts Authority of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.

The centre targets research disciplines, sectors, and subjects that are particularly promising for the future of society: In the context of Life Sciences, these are active ingredient and vaccine research, medical technology, and diagnostics. In New Materials, the focus is on sustainable and intelligent materials that are particularly durable or efficient to use. Quantum Technologies focuses on modern forms of computing, sensor technology, and quantum materials.

“Research at the Hamburg site offers enormous potential for social progress: what is developed here has what it takes to make life better. The DESY Innovation Factory enables the transition from research to marketable solutions. It will become a workbench for innovation, where bright minds and creative entrepreneurs work together to find answers to the pressing questions of our time – for a sustainable future and innovation through technology,” says Melanie Leonhard, Senator for Economic Affairs and Innovation of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg.

For DESY, the DESY Innovation Factory is a further milestone in its strategy to continuously develop the campus into a centre of deep-tech innovation. The globally unique large-scale research facilities and their specially trained staff will also increasingly benefit companies in the future in order to jointly develop cutting-edge products and technologies.

“By working closely together, research and industry can identify solutions to socially relevant challenges, for example in materials development or for the environment, more quickly and often more cost-effectively. With the DESY Innovation Factory, we offer the ideal environment for new deep-tech innovations,” says Arik Willner, DESY’s Chief Technology Officer.
“The DESY Innovation Factory will play a pivotal role in Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld and greatly expand Germany’s potential as a science and technology location,” says Helmut Dosch, Chairman of the DESY Board of Directors.

Read more on DESY website

Image: Breaking ground for the DESY Innovation Factory (from left): Helmut Dosch (DESY), Volkmar Dietz (Federal Ministry for Education and Research), Melanie Leonhard (Hamburg Senator for Economics), Eva Gümbel (Hamburg State Councillor for Science), Arik Willner and Hansjörg Wiese (both DESY).

Credit: DESY, Axel Heimken

European XFEL opens modern exhibition and conference centre

European XFEL opens modern exhibition and conference centre

Schenefeld, 20.11.2024 – Together with high-ranking guests, European XFEL today opens the modern Lighthouse exhibition and conference centre on its campus in Schenefeld near Hamburg to the public. The two-storey building offers space for a 350 m2 permanent exhibition, 200 m2 of special exhibition space, the Xcool Lab with two laboratories for students, and rooms for conferences and events. The name Lighthouse was suggested by the staff.

The new Lighthouse exhibition and conference centre of European XFEL offers a fascinating scientific experience. Together with the DESY visitor centre DESYUM, which is due to open in 2025, it will take visitors on an even more comprehensive journey of discovery into modern research with X-ray light sources and particle physics.

Guido Wendt, State Secretary for Science, Research and Culture, Schleswig-Holstein: “European XFEL enables cutting-edge international research, with outstanding experiments and brilliant results that inspire the global scientific community. We also want to communicate this to the public – and especially to schoolchildren. The new exhibition and conference centre with its two laboratories for schoolchildren will provide us with excellent support in the future.”

Eva Gümbel, State Councilor, Authority for Science, Research, Gender Equality and Districts of Hamburg: “At the European XFEL, researchers from all over the world carry out unique experiments and develop new research opportunities. With the new exhibition and conference centre, this can be experienced directly by students: through interactive exhibits, original pieces and multimedia presentations. The combination of excellent research and knowledge transfer is a real benefit for our science location and a great experience for all visitors.”

Schenefeld’s mayor Christiane Küchenhof: “Every lighthouse is unique, but the town of Schenefeld now has the most unique lighthouse in the world. The visitor and conference centre with this beautiful name will now share its light with many guests. I am delighted about this important new attraction on the Schenefeld science campus.”

Read more on European XFEL website

Image: The cutting of the red ribbon marks the official opening of the Lighthouse exhibition and conference centre (from left to right: Nicole Elleuche, Helmut Dosch, Eva Gümbel, Volkmar Dietz, Christiane Küchenhof, Guido Wendt, Federico Boscherini, Thomas Feurer)

Credit: European XFEL / Axel Heimken