X-ray fluorescence – Lightsources.org

New imaging technique could shed light on individual molecules

2023/04/252023/04/26

An international research team has succeeded for the first time in using X-rays for an imaging technique that exploits a particular quantum property of light. The research team, led by Henry Chapman, leading scientist at DESY and professor at Universität Hamburg, used very intense X-ray pulses from the European XFEL to generate fluorescence from copper atoms. By measuring two photons from the emitted fluorescence almost simultaneously, scientists can obtain images of the copper atoms. The research, published in Physical Review Letters, could enable imaging of individual large molecules.

The atomic structures of materials and large molecules such as proteins are usually determined using X-ray crystallography, which relies on “coherent” X-ray scattering. Undesirable incoherent processes like fluorescence emission, however, can dominate the measurements, adding a featureless fog or background to the measured data. In the 1950s, astronomers Robert Hanbury Brown and Richard Twiss coined a method called “intensity interferometry”, that can extract structural information through the ‘incoherent’ fog. The method exploits the quantum mechanical properties of light, and opened the door to new understanding of light.

How much cadmium is contained in cocoa beans?

2023/04/062023/04/11

Cocoa beans can absorb toxic heavy metals such as cadmium from the soil. Some cultivation areas, especially in South America, are polluted with these heavy metals, in some cases considerably. In combining different X-ray fluorescence techniques, a team at BESSY II has now been able to non-invasively measure for the first time where cadmium accumulates exactly in cocoa beans: Mainly in the shell. Further investigations show that the processing of the cocoa beans can have a great influence on the concentration of heavy metals.

People have been harvesting the beans of the cocoa bush for at least 5000 years. They have learned to ferment, roast, grind and process the beans with sugar and fat to make delicious chocolates. Today, around five million tonnes of beans are on the market every year, coming from only a few growing areas in tropical regions.

Soul food chocolate

Chocolate is considered a soul food: amino acids such as tryptophan brighten the mood. Cocoa beans also contain anti-inflammatory compounds and valuable trace elements. However, cocoa plants also absorb toxic heavy metals if the soils are polluted, for example by mining, which can gradually poison groundwater and soils.

Where do the toxic elements accumulate?

An important question is, where exactly the heavy metals accumulate in the bean, whether rather in the shell or rather in the endosperm inside the bean. From the harvest to the raw material for chocolate, the beans undergo many steps of different treatments, which could possibly reduce the contamination. And ideally the treatment could be optimised in order to make sure that the heavy metals are reduced but the desirable trace elements are retained.

Mapping the beans at BESSY II

A team led by Dr. Ioanna Mantouvalou (HZB) and Dr. Claudia Keil (TU Berlin/Toxicology) has now combined various imaging methods at the BAMline of BESSY II to precisely map the heavy metal concentrations in cocoa beans. They examined cocoa samples from a cultivation region in Colombia, which were contaminated with an average of 4.2 mg/kg cadmium. This is well above the European limits of 0.1-0.8 mg cadmium/kg in cocoa products.

Read more on the HZB website

Image: Cocoa beans are the main ingredients of chocolate, a famous “soul food”. However, cocoa plants also absorb toxic heavy metals if the soils are polluted. At BESSY II, a team has now mapped the local distribution of heavy metals inside the beans.

Credit: © AdobeStock

$X-ray diffraction reveals ancient Egyptian illustration methods$

X-ray diffraction reveals ancient Egyptian illustration methods

2023/03/232023/03/30

The ancient Egyptians used papyrus as a medium for communication and illustration, with the first illustrations appearing in the fifth and sixth dynasties (2500 – 2100 B.C.). Funerary documents, such as the Book of the Dead, flourished during the New Kingdom period as they were considered essential for entering the afterlife.

The Champollion Museum in Vif, France, holds a collection of 280 papyrus fragments, many of which show scenes from the Book of the Dead. The colours used in these illustrations are typical of the Egyptian palette and include blue, green, red, pink, yellow and white, with different characters and elements of the illustrations outlined with a black line.

Researchers from the ESRF and the Néel Institute CNRS/UGA in Grenoble, France, with collaborators from the Champollion Museum, worked together to gain a deeper understanding of the illustration processs used in ancient Egypt. A combination of optical microscopy, synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction, X-ray fluorescence and Raman spectroscopy was used to identify the pigments and their overall distribution.

Two of the papyrus fragments of the collection (PAP-6 and PAP-12) were examined on beamline ID22, where X-ray fluorescence and X-ray diffraction experiments were carried out. Mixed Rietveld and Pawley refinement was carried out against the XRD data to quantify the fine fraction and to consider the heterogeneous microstructure of the pigments.

Environmental pollutants found incrusted in iron in endometriotic lesions

2023/03/142023/03/14

Scientists led by Istituto Di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS), the Italian Research Hospital Burlo Garofolo in Trieste show that iron presence in endometriosis is associated to the accumulation of environmental metals, supporting the idea that the environment exposure to toxic chemicals plays a role in the disease.

Around 1 in 10 women in reproductive age around the world live with endometriosis, an inflammatory disease caused when tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside the womb, such as in the ovaries and fallopian tubes. This causes pain and, in many cases, infertility. Even if women have always been affected by endometriosis, it is only since recently that the scientific community has started looking into it.

The factors that may lead to endometriosis go from genetic predisposition to autoimmune diseases and environmental triggers. Now a team from Institute for Maternal and Child health IRCCS Burlo Garofolo in Trieste (Italy) has found the presence of iron clustered with environmental metals, such as lead, aluminium or titanium, using beamlines ID21 and id16B at the ESRF.

The accumulation of iron in endometriosis was already well documented. Iron deposits are common in endometrial lesions, indicating an altered iron metabolism. “We knew that iron can create oxidative stress and hence, inflammation, as it does in other conditions, such as asbestosis, so we wanted to know more about what chemical form it takes, how it is distributed and whether there are other environmental pollutants with it”, explains Lorella Pascolo, leader of the study.

Pascolo and her team came to the ESRF to compare iron nanoaggregates in endometrial lesions of patients with normal endometrium samples of the same patients. “The ESRF beamlines are exceptional instruments to get a clear picture of the role of iron and how it transforms into endometrial lesions”, explains Pascolo.

They used X-ray fluorescence (XRF) on beamline ID21 to track the presence and distribution of iron and environmental pollutants, and ID16B to fine-tune the findings and reveal additional heavy metals at the nano level. They also used X-ray spectroscopy to reveal the chemical state of the iron.

Read more on the ESRF website

The history of one of the oldest objects in the Solar system unveiled

2022/09/232022/10/12

An international team of scientists have unveiled details of the history of the asteroid Ryugu, a truly ancient object in the Solar system, after the Hayabusa2 mission brought samples from this asteroid back to Earth. The ESRF was one of the institutes involved in sample characterization, on ID15A. The results are published in Science.

The asteroid Ryugu, located at 200 million kilometres from the Earth, is one of the most primitive objects of the solar system. The Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa2 explored it from 2018 until it came back to Earth two years later with minuscule multiple samples from the asteroid.

Two years later, and thanks to the international collaboration of institutes led by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the first results on the analysis of the samples shed light on the history of Ryugu, from its formation to its collisional destruction.

Researchers used cosmochemical and physical methods at universities and institutes, including the ESRF and four other synchrotron radiation facilities in Japan, United States, and Europe.

The results combined with computer simulation have allowed scientists to picture the origins of Ryugu: the Ryugu parent body accumulated about 2 million years after the formation of the solar system, and then heated up to about 50°C over the next 3 million years, resulting in chemical reactions between water and rock. The size of the impactor that destroyed the Ryugu parent body, which is about 100 km in diameter, is at most 10 km in diameter, and that the present-day Ryugu is composed of material from a region far from the impact point.

What the data explain

In particular, the seventeen Ryugu samples analysed contain particles (such as Ca- and Al-rich inclusions) that were formed in high-temperature environments (>1000°C). These high-temperature particles are thought to have formed near the Sun and then migrated to the outer solar system, where Ryugu was formed. This indicates that large-scale mixing of materials occurred between the inner and outer solar system at the time of its birth.

Based on the detection of the magnetic field left in the Ryugu samples, it is highly likely that the original asteroid from which the current Ryugu descended (Ryugu’s parent body) was born in the darkness of nebular gas, far from the Sun, where sunlight cannot reach.

The scientists also discovered liquid water trapped in a crystal in a sample. This water was carbonated water containing salts and organic matter, which was once present in the Ryugu parent body. Crystals shaped as coral reefs grew from the liquid water that existed inside Ryugu’s parent body. Rocks that were deeper underground contained more water than those in the surface.

Read more on the ESRF website

Image: A coloured view of the C-type asteroid 162173 Ryugu, seen by the ONC-T camera on board of Hayabusa2.

Credit: JAXA Hayabusa 2

Unveiling the secrets of biofilms

2022/01/312022/02/17

Most bacteria have the ability to form communities, biofilms, that adhere to a wide variety of surfaces and are difficult to remove. This can lead to major problems, for example in hospitals or in the food industry. Now, an international team led by Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and the Technical University Dresden, has studied a model system for biofilms at the synchrotron radiation facilities BESSY II at HZB and the ESRF and found out what role the structures within the biofilm play in the distribution of nutrients and water.

Bacterial biofilms can thrive on almost all types of surfaces: We find them on rocks and plants, on teeth and mucous membranes, but also on contact lenses, medical implants or catheters, in the hoses of the dairy industry or drinking water pipes, where they can pose a serious threat to human health. Some biofilms are also useful, for example, in the production of cheese, where specific types of biofilms not only produce the many tiny holes, but also provide its delicious taste.

Tissue with special structures

“Biofilms are not just a collection of very many bacteria, but a tissue with special structures,” explains Prof. Liraz Chai from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Together, the bacteria form a protective layer of carbohydrates and proteins, the so-called extracellular matrix. This matrix protects the from disinfectants, UV radiation or desiccation and ensures that biofilms are really difficult to remove mechanically or eradicate chemically. However, the matrix is not a homogeneous sludge: “It’s a bit like in a leaf of plants, there are specialized structures, for example water channels residing in tiny wrinkles,” says Chai. But what role these structures play and what happens at the molecular level in a biofilm was not known until now. Together with Prof. Yael Politi, TU Dresden, an expert in the characterization of biological materials, Chai therefore applied for measurement time at the synchrotron radiation source BESSY II at HZB.

“The good thing about BESSY II is that we can map quite large areas. By combining X-ray diffraction with fluorescence, not only can we analyze the molecular structures across the biofilm very precisely, but we can also simultaneously track the accumulation of certain metal ions that are transported in the biofilm and learn about some of their biological roles” Yael Politi points out.

Read more on the HZB website

Image: When bacteria join together to form communities, they may build complex structures. The photo shows wild-type Bacillus subtilis biofilms.

Credit: © Liraz Chai/HUJI

Examining individual neurons from different perspectives

2021/09/022021/09/03

Correlative imaging of a single neuronal cell opens the door to profound multi-perspective sub-cellular examinations

Scientists combined two nano-imaging techniques that stand at opposite ends of the electromagnetic spectrum to demonstrate the benefits of correlative imaging to examine individual neurons from different perspectives.

To showcase this, they studied the molecular structures of amyloid proteins and investigated the role metal ions may play in the development of Alzheimer’s Disease at a previously never achieved resolution. Their detailed observations at the sub-cellular level underscore the potential of using combined nanospectroscopic tools to deal with uncertainties due to the complex nature of a biological sample.

Alzheimer’s Disease is the most common cause of dementia. Many research groups are working to reveal molecular mechanisms to better understand the process by which the disease evolves. Due to the current lack of effective treatments that could stop or prevent Alzheimer’s Disease, new approaches are necessary to find out how people can age without memory loss.

High-resolution microscopy techniques such as electron microscopy and immunofluorescence microscopy are most often used to detect amyloidogenic protein molecules, often considered key factors in the disease’s evolution. However, these commonly used methods generally lack the sensitivity necessary to depict molecular structures. This is why scientists from Lund University in collaboration with SOLEIL and MAX IV carried out a proof of concept study which showcases that combining two imaging modalities can be used as effective tools to assess structural and chemical information directly within a single cell.

Read more on the MAX IV website

Image: a O-PTIR setup: a pulsed, tunable IR laser is guided onto the sample surface (1). b X-ray fluorescence nanoimaging of individual neuronal cells deposited on Si3N4 (1). c Conceptualization of the data analysis based on superimposed optical, O-PTIR, and S-XRF images.

Unravelling the history of 15th Century Chinese porcelains

2021/05/252021/05/26

Researchers from French and Spanish Institutions used the combination of two synchrotron light characterization techniques to study Chinese blue-and-white Ming porcelains. They were able to identify the firing temperature by determining the porcelain’s pigments and the reduction-oxidation media conditions during their production. The approach they used can also be applied on a broad range of modern and archaeological ceramics to elucidate their production technology.

Pottery is found at the majority of archaeological sites dating from the Neolithic period, when first human settings appear, onwards. Which makes it a major focus of study in archaeological science. The study of style and production of ceramics is central to the historical reconstruction of a site, region and period.

More specifically, ceramic technological studies look to reconstruct the production technology of ceramics, by determining the selection and preparation of the raw materials, the formation of ceramics, treatment and decoration of the ware’s surface and the firing atmosphere. All of this is possible thanks to the scientific techniques available nowadays.

In a recent publication, researchers from French and Spanish Institutions used the combination of two synchrotron light characterization techniques to study Chinese blue-and-white Ming porcelains. These characteristic porcelains, whose production flourished around the 14^th century, are decorated under the glaze with Cobalt-based blue pigments that provided their distinctive blue decorations and produced during a one-step firing at high temperatures.

They were able to identify the firing temperature by determining the porcelain’s pigments and the reduction-oxidation media conditions during their production. The approach they used can also be applied on a broad range of modern and archaeological ceramics to elucidate their production technology.

Read more on the ALBA website

Image: Porcelain Jar with cobalt blue under a transparent glaze (Jingdezhen ware). Mid-15th century

Credit: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

First photons on the first mirror of LOREA

2020/07/272020/08/11

LOREA beamline has seen its first photons.

The photograph, taken in the control hutch of the beamline, shows in the computer screens the footprint of the very first photon beam on the fluorescence screen located outside the optical hutch, taken with only 2 mA of electron beam in the storage ring. Although masked, the satisfaction expressed by the three beamline scientists Massimo Tallarida (beamline responsible), Federico Bisti and Debora Pierucci is evident. This is an important milestone for the beamline, reached with very demanding operating conditions due to the pandemic situation. Congratulations to everybody that contributed to this result!

Read more on the ALBA website

Image: Three beamline scientists Massimo Tallarida (beamline responsible), Federico Bisti and Debora Pierucci.

Researchers find the key to preserving The Scream

2020/05/152020/05/20

Moisture is the main environmental factor that triggers the degradation of the masterpiece The Scream (1910?) by Edvard Munch, according to the finding of an international team of scientists led by the CNR (Italy), using a combination of in situ non-invasive spectroscopic methods and synchrotron Xray techniques. After exploiting the capability of the European mobile platform MOLAB in situ and non-invasively at the Munch Museum in Oslo, the researchers came to the ESRF, the European Synchrotron (Grenoble, France), the world’s brightest X-ray source, to carry out non-destructive
experiments on micro-flakes originating from one of the most well-known versions of The Scream. The findings could help better preserve this masterpiece, which is seldom exhibited due to its degradation. The study is published in Science Advances.

The Scream is among the most famous paintings of the modern era. The now familiar image is interpreted as the ultimate representation of anxiety and mental anguish. There are a number of versions of The Scream, namely two paintings, two pastels, several lithographic prints and a few drawings and sketches. The two most well-known versions are the paintings that Edvard Munch created in 1893 and 1910. Each version of The Scream is unique. Munch clearly experimented to find the exact colours to represent his personal experience, mixing diverse binding media (tempera, oil and pastel) with brilliant and bold synthetic pigments to make ‘screaming colours’. Unfortunately, the extensive use of these new coloured materials poses a challenge for the long-term preservation of Munch’s artworks.

The mechanism of the most commonly used antimalarial drugs unveiled

2019/10/282019/11/01

For centuries, quinoline has been an effective compound in antimalarial drugs, although no one knew its mode of action in vivo.

Today, a team led by the Weizmann Institute has discovered its mechanism in infected red blood cells in near-native conditions, by using the ESRF, Alba Synchrotron and BESSY. They publish their results in PNAS.

Malaria remains one of the biggest killers in low-income countries. Estimates of the number of deaths each year range from 450,000 to 720,000, with the majority of deaths happening in Africa. In the last two decades, the malaria parasite has evolved into drug-resistant strains. “Recently, the increasing geographical spread of the species, as well as resistant strains has concerned the scientific community, and in order to improve antimalarial drugs we need to know how they work precisely”, explains Sergey Kapishnikov, from the University of Copenhagen, in Denmark, and the Weizmann Institute, in Israel, and leader of the study.

Plasmodium parasite, when infecting a human, invades a red blood cell, where it ingests hemoglobin to grow and multiply. Hemoglobin releases then iron-containing heme molecules, which are toxic to the parasite. However, these molecules crystallise into hemozoin, a disposal product formed from the digestion of blood by the parasite that makes the molecules inert. For the parasite to survive, the rate at which the heme molecules are liberated must be slower or the same as the rate of hemozoin crystallization. Otherwise there would be an accumulation of the toxic heme within the parasite.

>Read more on the ESRF website

Image (taken from BESSY II article): The image shows details such as the vacuole of the parasites (colored in blue and green) inside an infected blood cell.
Credit: S. Kapishnikov

Two other institutes, BESSY II at HZB and ALBA Synchrotron, have participated in this research. Please find here their published articles:

> X-ray microscopy at BESSY II reveal how antimalaria-drugs might work

> The mechanism of the most commonly used antimlalarial drugs in near- native conditions unveiled

Monitoring food safety of marine fishes

2019/08/282019/09/19

Research investigates ways to convert titanium dioxide into a new photoactive material in the visible light range.

The search for clean and renewable energy sources has intensified in recent years due to the increase in atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases and the consequent increase in the average temperature of the planet. One such alternative source is the conversion of sunlight into electricity through photovoltaic panels. The efficiency in this conversion depends on the intrinsic properties of the materials used in the manufacturing of the panels, and it increases year by year with the discovery of new and better materials. As such, solar energy is expected to become one of the main sources of electric energy by the middle of this century, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Titanium dioxide ( $T i O_{2}$ ) is an abundant, nontoxic, biologically inert and chemically stable material, known primarily as a white pigment used in paints, cosmetics and even toothpastes. $T i O_{2}$ is also often used in sunscreens since it is especially capable of absorbing radiation in the ultraviolet region. However, this same property severely limits the use of $T i O_{2}$ for solar energy conversion, since the ultraviolet emission comprises only 5 to 8% of the total energy of the solar light. Can this $T i O_{2}$ property be extended to the visible light region to increase the conversion of sunlight into electricity? To answer this question, Maria Pilar de Lara-Castells et al. [1] conducted an innovative research in which they discuss how a special treatment can change the optical properties of $T i O_{2}$ .

>Read more on the LNLS website

Image: Joakant (Pixabay)

Superfluorescent emission in the UV range

2019/08/202019/08/20

Free-electron laser FLASH coaxes superfluorescent emission from the noble gas xenon

Scientists have for the first time induced superfluorescence in the extreme ultraviolet range. Superfluorescence, or superradiance, could be used to build a laser that does not require an optical resonator. The team headed by DESY’s lead scientist Nina Rohringer used DESY’s free-electron laser FLASH to stimulate xenon, a noble gas, inside a narrow tube, causing it to emit coherent radiation, like a laser. The research team is now presenting its work in the journal Physical Review Letters.

“The phenomenon of superfluorescence was first discovered in the microwave range in the 1970s, and then demonstrated for infrared and optical wavelengths too,” explains Rohringer. “In the meantime, superfluorescence has also been observed in the X-ray domain, and at one time this mechanism was believed to be a promising candidate for building X-ray lasers. Until now, however, superfluorescence had not been demonstrated in the extreme ultraviolet, or XUV, range.”

In superfluorescence, the incident light is amplified and emitted along the axis of the medium as a narrow beam of coherent radiation, like in a laser. To produce superfluorescence in the XUV spectrum, the incoming light needs to have enough energy to knock the electrons out of the inner shell of the atoms that make up the lasing medium. Redistribution within the electron shell (Auger decay) leads to a situation in which more particles find themselves in an excited state than in an unexcited state. Physicists refer to this as population inversion.

>Read more on the FLASH at DESY website

Image: The xenon superfluorescence shows up as a bright line (yellow) superimposed on the averaged free-electron laser spectrum (purple, averaged over many shots).
Credit: European XFEL, Laurent Mercadier

Publication of the first scientific paper

2019/06/192019/06/19

June 1, 2019 marks a historically important accomplishment for SESAME, where the very first scientific paper presenting results using data obtained at SESAME’s X-ray absorption fine structure/X-ray fluorescence (XAFS/XRF) spectroscopy beamline was published in Applied Catalysis B: Environmental.

S: Bac et al. Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 259, 2019, 117808 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0926337319305545

Synchrotron measurements performed at SESAME were carried out by the research group of Associate Professor Emrah Ozensoy (Bilkent University Chemistry Department and UNAM-National Nanotechnology Center Ankara, Turkey), in collaboration with the research group of Professor Ahmet Kerim Avcı (Boğaziçi University, Chemical Engineering Department, Istanbul, Turkey) and Dr Messaoud Harfouche (XAFS/XRF beamline scientist, SESAME, Allan, Jordan).
The paper entitled Exceptionally active and stable catalysts for CO2 reforming of glycerol to syngas is the outcome of a measurement campaign at SESAME in July 2018 and focuses on the catalytic valorization of a biomass waste material (i.e. glycerol) to obtain synthesis gas (or syngas, CO + H2). Glycerol is an important renewable feedstock for the large-scale catalytic production of synthetic liquid fuels through a process called Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. In the words of Emrah Ozensoy “XAFS/XRF experiments performed at SESAME were instrumental for us to understand the electronic structure of the Co/CoOx and Ni/NiOx nanoparticles serving as the catalytic active sites. Particularly, complementing the experimental data acquired in our labs with the results obtained at SESAME allowed us to examine the nature of the fresh catalysts and compare them with that of the spent catalysts obtained after the catalytic reaction, revealing crucial molecular-level insights regarding the catalytic aging and poisoning mechanisms.”

>Read more on the SESAME website

Image: Kerem Emre Ercan Some of the researchers who contributed to the publication and data acquisition (from left to right, Yusuf Koçak, Kerem E. Ercan, and M. Fatih Genişel)

First ever images of fuel debris fallout particles from Fukushima

2019/03/072019/03/09

Unique synchrotron visualisation techniques offer new forensic insights into the provenance of radioactive material from the Fukushima nuclear accident to understand the sequence of events related to the accident.

In April 2017, a joint team comprising the University of Bristol, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) and Diamond, the UK’s national synchrotronlight source, undertook the first experiment of its kind to be performed at Diamond. A small radioactive particle (450μm x 280μm x 250 μm) from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident in 2011 underwent a comprehensive and independent analysis of its internal structure and 3D elemental distribution, to establish the source of the material and the potential environmental risks associated with it.

Image: Fukushima Particles research group (L-R): Cristoph Rau (I13), Yukihiko Satou, (researcher from the Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced Decommissioning Science, Japan Atomic Energy Agency), with Tom Scott and Peter Martin (University of Bristol).

X-ray fluorescence imaging could open up new diagnostic possibilities in medicine

2018/11/162018/11/29

Using gold to track down diseases

A high-precision X-ray technique, tested at PETRA III, could catch cancer at an earlier stage and facilitate the development and control of pharmaceutical drugs. The test at DESY’s synchrotron radiation source, which used so-called X-ray fluorescence for that purpose, has proved very promising, as is now being reported in the journal Scientific Reports by a research team headed by Florian Grüner from the University of Hamburg. The technique is said to offer the prospect of carrying out such X-ray studies not only with higher precision than existing methods but also with less of a dose impact. However, before the method can be used in a clinical setting, it still has to undergo numerous stages of development.

The idea behind the procedure is simple: tiny nanoparticles of gold having a diameter of twelve nanometres (millionths of a millimetre) are functionalised with antibodies using biochemical methods. “A solution containing such nanoparticles is injected into the patient,” explains Grüner, a professor of physics at the Centre for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL), a cooperative venture between DESY, the University of Hamburg and the Max Planck Society. “The particles migrate through the body, where the antibodies can latch onto a tumour that may be present.” When the corresponding parts of the patient’s body are scanned using a pencil X-ray beam, the gold particles emit characteristic X-ray fluorescence signals, which are recorded by a special detector. The hope is that this will permit the detection of tiny tumours that cannot be found using current methods.

Image: Gold nanoparticles spiked with antibodies can specifically attach to tumors or other targets in the organism and can be detected there by X-ray fluorescence.
Credit: Meletios Verras [Source]