Science Highlights

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. 

Science Highlight Archive Science Highlight Banner Images

Potential Implications for Cataract Formation - Redox Changes at the Sulfur Atom of Methionine

Figure 2

In a similar way to your old pick-up truck rusting in the driveway, your body experiences a continuous battle against the elements.

BL6-2

Br-rich Tips of Calcified Crab Claws are Less Hard but More Fracture Resistant: A Comparison of Mineralized and Heavy-element Biological Materials

Figure 1

The tips of crab pincers are made of a very hard material, allowing the crab to fight and forage for food without wearing down their tools.

BL9-3

Visualizing Brain Metals in Health and Disease

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Metals such as iron, copper, and zinc are critical for brain function, where they serve various roles, such as enzyme cofactors or neurotransmitters.

BL10-2

Structure of P-Glycoprotein Reveals a Molecular Basis for Poly-specific Drug Binding

Figure 1

Medications can be rendered ineffective through cells developing multidrug resistance. This is the case in many forms of cancer cells that fail to respond to chemotherapy.

BL9-2

Structural Studies of Nitric Oxide Synthase Inhibitor Complexes: An Anchored Plasticity Approach for Selective Enzyme Inhibition

Figure 2

Nitric oxide (NO) is one of very few gaseous signaling molecules in humans. NO causes smooth muscles to relax and blood vessels to open.

BL7-1

An Unusual Mechanism for the Antimicrobial Target Flavine-dependant Thymidylate Synthase (FTDS)

Figure 1

Before DNA is made, the subunits composing DNA must be made.

BL9-2

Experiments Provide First Direct Signatures of a Topological Insulator - a New Phase of Quantum Matter

Figure 1

One of the strangest consequences of quantum mechanics is the seemingly instantaneous communication of subatomic particles over long distances.

BL5-4

Structural and Functional Basis for Broad-spectrum Neutralization of Avian and Human Influenza Viruses

Figure 1.a

Scientists have recently identified a family of human antibodies that can take out an unprecedented number of different types of flu viruses, including H5N1 'bird flu' and the 19

BL9-2

Localizing Organomercury Uptake and Accumulation in Zebrafish Larvae at the Tissue and Cellular Level

Figure 1.

Organomercury is a well-known poison, and the potential for exposure worries many communities worldwide.

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Ions in the Clutches of Carbon Nanotubes

Figure 2

Currently, more than 1/6th of the people in the world lack safe and clean water.

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Collaborate on Science Highlights

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. 

SSRL User Office