Approximately 1,700 scientists visit SSRL annually to conduct experiments in broad disciplines including life sciences, materials, environmental science, and accelerator physics. Science highlights featured here and in our monthly newsletter, Headlines, increase the visibility of user science as well as the important contribution of SSRL in facilitating basic and applied scientific research. Many of these scientific highlights have been included in reports to funding agencies and have been picked up by other media. Users are strongly encouraged to contact us when exciting results are about to be published. We can work with users and the SLAC Office of Communication to develop the story and to communicate user research findings to a much broader audience.
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Manganese-II Oxidation: A Biotic and Abiotic Process
Manganese, one of the most abundant metals in soils and rocks, is important to the health of the environment: As it cycles between manganese-II and nanocrystalline manganese-I
Characterization of Iron Diazene Complexes in Two Oxidation States
The enzyme nitrogenase plays a critical role in converting nitrogen in the air into ammonia, a form that living organisms can use.
How a Complex Molecular Machine Is Built for Gene Transcription: Architecture of the Mediator Head Module
Scientists have deciphered the structure of an essential part of Mediator, a complex molecular machine that plays a vital role in regulating the transcription of DNA.
Structure and Reactivity of a Mononuclear Non-Haem Iron(III)–Peroxo Complex
The life-sustaining element oxygen can’t do its job alone.
X-ray Emission Spectroscopy Evidences a Central Carbon in the Nitrogenase Iron-Molybdenum Cofactor
If we could make plant food from nitrogen the way nature does, we would have a much greener method for manufacturing fertilizer; the current industrial process requires such
Resolution of a 5′ Flap in DNA Replication and Repair; Structures of Human Flap Endonuclease (FEN1) with DNA Substrate and Product
DNA replication is critical to the life of all organisms, ensuring that each new cell, as well as each new offspring, gets an accurate copy of the genome.
Controlling Protein Aggregation: Lessons from Fungi
Unlike all other fatal infectious agents, which contain DNA and/or RNA, prions—the perpetrators behind Creutzfeldt-Jakob and mad cow diseases—are composed only of a protein
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We can work with users and the SLAC Office of Communication to develop the story and to communicate user research findings to a much broader audience.