SLAC topics

Biological sciences RSS feed

Tiny microbes and molecular machines have an outsized impact on human health, and they play key roles in the vast global cycles that shape climate and make carbon and nitrogen available to all living things. 

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Science of life

This illustration shows arrestin, an important type of signaling protein

Press Release

With up to a million X-ray flashes per second, 8,000 times more than its predecessor, it transforms the ability of scientists to explore atomic-scale...

LCLS-II first light
News Brief

They aim to help society respond ten times faster with treatments for future disease outbreaks.

This is a portrait photograph of SSRL scientist Aina Cohen.
News Feature

In our rapidly changing world, plants must adapt to new environments or die. Ritimukta Sarangi discusses how researchers and users at SSRL are tackling...

A graphic illustrating a plant and the many kinds of interactions it has with its environment.
News Feature

Bringing ultrafast physics to structural biology has revealed the coordinated dance of molecules in unprecedented clarity, which could aid in the design of new...

molecular control
News Feature

The results should further our understanding of similar reactions with vital roles in chemistry, such as the production of vitamin D in our bodies.

UED transition state
Press Release

After decades of effort, scientists have finally seen the process by which nature creates the oxygen we breathe using SLAC’s X-ray laser.

Photosystem II
Press Release

Researchers used cryo-EM (left) to discover how a chamber in human cells (right) directs protein folding. 

A pom-pom like object with curly tangles in purple and blue shades and yellow tangles at center, reminiscent of a zinnia blossom.
News Brief
Blaine Mooers, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, has won this year’s  Farrel W. Lytle...
Blaine Mooers
Illustration
At LCLS, crystallized ribosomes travel through a capillary into the interaction region, where they are zapped with a beam of X-rays. The X-rays scatter...
At LCLS, crystallized ribosomes travel through a capillary into the interaction region, where they are zapped with a beam of X-rays.
Illustration
A new technique allows scientists to map how electrons flow in the oxygen-evolving complex of Photosystem II. The ultimate goal is to assemble an...
Identifying each tiny chemical step in photosynthesis could aid the development of renewable energy technology.
Photograph

Stanford’s Roger Kornberg received the 2006 chemistry Nobel for work on RNA transcriptase, shown on screens. 

Roger Kornberg received the 2006 chemistry Nobel for work on RNA transcriptase
news collection
Research at SLAC

COVID-19

SLAC is uniquely equipped to study viruses like SARS-CoV-2; in fact, we’ve been doing it for decades. This news collection gathers the latest information on COVID-19 research at SLAC.

A photo-collage featuring a technician at SLAC's cryo-EM facilities.