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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

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The new MFX station expands the X-ray laser’s capability and flexibility for biological studies, which are increasingly in demand at SLAC's Linac Coherent Light...

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High-speed X-ray camera reveals ultrafast atomic motions at the root of organisms’ ability to turn light into biological function.

a protein from photosynthetic bacteria
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The Macromolecular Structure Knowledge Center can help researchers who lack equipment for testing hundreds of different crystallization conditions or expertise in working with challenging...

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New insights into how bacteria interact with host cells could help fight off harmful microbes.

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Scientists have determined in atomic detail how a potential drug molecule fits into and blocks a channel in cell membranes that Ebola and related...

Alex Kintzer and Robert Stroud at SLAC's Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Light Source.
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Toward next-generation electronics, better medications and green energy solutions: "The First Five Years" point to a bright future of high-impact discovery at LCLS.

Press Release

A new study with the LCLS X-ray laser could change the way researchers take atomic-level snapshots of important biological machineries, potentially affecting research in...

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VIA SLAC Flickr

MFX First Light

For the first time in three years, LCLS has added a new instrument to its set of experimental stations. See photos of the brand...

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Ian Wilson explains how scientists have found a way to induce antibodies to fight a range of influenza viruses, which could some day eliminate...

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Researchers at SLAC have found a simple new way to study very delicate biological samples – like proteins at work in photosynthesis and components...

X-ray research on 80-million-year-old fossilized burrows, likely the work of tiny marine worms, is helping scientists understand how living organisms affected the chemistry of...

Image - This marine worm, commonly known as a ragworm, can grow up to 4 inches in length. It is part of a class of worms known as polychaetes. A far smaller variety of polychaetes was likely responsible for creating ancient burrows studied at SLAC.
News Feature

A tiny change in the length of a chemical bond makes a big difference in the activity of a molecule important in health, drug...

Image - Courtney Krest Roach (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)