SLAC topics

Structural molecular biology RSS feed

Structural molecular biology uses various scientific techniques to map the three-dimensional arrangement of atoms in biological molecules. 

Science of life

Probing Molecular Dynamics in Real Time from Within with Free Electron Lasers.

News Feature

Over the next five years they’ll work on getting significantly more information about how catalysts work and improving biological imaging methods.

Cornelius Gati and Franklin Fuller, the 2017 Panofsky fellows at SLAC
News Feature

With SLAC’s X-ray laser and synchrotron, scientists measured exactly how much energy goes into keeping this crucial bond from triggering a cell's death spiral.

An optical laser (green) excites the iron-containing active site of the protein cytochrome c, and then an X-ray laser (white) probes the iron.
News Feature

The method dramatically reduces the amount of virus material required and allows scientists to get results several times faster.

Surface structure of the bovine enterovirus 2
Press Release

X-ray studies have produced surprising insights into the workings of a hormone receptor associated with blood pressure regulation that could be a target for...

Powerful X-rays reveal molecular structures at the site where drug compounds interact with cell receptors.
News Feature

X-rays show details of an insect virus’s crystalline cocoon with sub-nanometer resolution.

Press Release

Scientists used SLAC's LCLS X-ray laser to make the first snapshots of a chemical interaction between two biomolecules. It changes the shape of millions...

Illustration depicting a chemical interaction as synchronized swimmers.
Press Release

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
News Feature

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

News Feature

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.
News Feature

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

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)
Press Release

A biomedical breakthrough reveals never-before-seen details of the human body’s cellular switchboard that regulates sensory and hormonal responses.

 Illustration shows arrestin (yellow), an important type of signaling protein, while docked with rhodopsin (orange).