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

Reexamination of Lead(II) Coordination Preferences in Sulfur-Rich Sites:Implications for a Critical Mechanism of Lead Poisoning

Figure 1

Research performed at SSRL has provided insight into why lead is so damaging to the healthy development of young children.

BL9-3

Following a Structural Phase Transition in Real Time with Atomic Spatial Resolution

Figure 1

When a snowball melts, you can tell it has achieved a liquid state when the frigid water drips through your fingers.

Cationic Liposome-Microtuble Complexes: Lipid-Protein Bio-Nanotubes with Open or Closed Ends

Figure 1

Microtubules, 25 nanometer scale hollow tubules, are critical components in a broad range of functions in eukaryotic cells -- from providing tracks for the transport of cargo to forming the sp

BL4-2

Sulfur in the Timbers of Henry VIII's Warship Mary Rose: Synchrotrons Illuminate Conservation Concerns

Figure 1

Henry VIII's warship, the Mary Rose, wreaked havoc on the French navy for 34 years until she was wrecked in 1545.

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Structure of Human Toll-like Receptor 3(TLR3) Ligand-binding Domain

Figure 1

We have to defend ourselves from the challenge of microbial pathogens every day.

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Damage by X-rays: A Case Study for Metallo-Protein Crystallography

Figure 1

X-rays intended to elucidate the structure of biomolecules may actually damage and alter key parts of the molecules.

BL9-3

Structural Determination of Marine Bacteriogenic Manganese Oxides

Figure 4

Manganese oxides form in the oceanic water column as a result of the bacterially catalyzed oxidation of a relatively abundant form of dissolved manganese.

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Cytoplasmic Domain Structures of Kir2.1 and Kir3.1 Show Sites for Modulating Gating and Rectification

Figure 1

Ion channels in our cells generate the nerve impulses that enable the heart to beat, the body to move, and sensation and thought to occur.

BL9-2

Structural Basis for the Promiscuous Biosynthetic Prenylation of Aromatic Natural Products

Red

Using x-ray diffraction data collected on Beam Line 9-2 at SSRL, and other beam lines at the ESRF and BNL, scientists at The Salk Institute for Biological Studies discovered the three-dimensional str

BL9-2

Characterization of a Genuine S=1/2 Fe(V) Complex

Figure 1

Iron metals oxidize to rust, losing electrons and gaining positive charge. Iron metals typically exist in an oxidation state of +2 or +3 (2 or 3 electrons less than a neutral iron atom).

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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