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

Tiny pores in the shells of archaea microbes attract ammonium ions that are their sole source of energy, allowing them to thrive where this...

Artist's depiction of a tiny pore in an archaea's crystalline shell
News Feature

The National Institutes of Health center on the SLAC campus will make this revolutionary technology available to scientists nationwide and teach them how to...

Cryo-EM image of a proton pump involved in maintaining bone
Press Release

The new facility provides revolutionary tools for exploring tiny biological machines, from viral particles to the interior of the cell.

SLAC-Stanford Cryo-EM Facility
News Feature

With SLAC’s X-ray laser, a research team captured ultrafast changes in fluorescent proteins between “dark” and “light” states. The insights allowed the scientists to...

Aequorea victoria, a bioluminescent jellyfish
News Feature

The Scripps researcher is honored for groundbreaking research at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource that accelerated the development of a vaccine for deadly Lassa...

Photo - Kathryn Hastie, staff scientist at The Scripps Research Institute
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