Brilliance of X-rays

Techniques based on synchrotron light are used to study a wide range of biological specimens. Many proteins, enzymes and viruses can be crystallised; diffraction of X-rays by the regular crystal structure allows the atomic structure to be solved in great detail. One of the biggest virus structures solved to date, known as SV40, was determined at the SRS using these techniques. More recently researchers have solved the structure of a light harvesting complex from a photosynthetic bacteria, helping explain the mechanisms of photosynthesis.

The light harvesting protein from the bacterium Rhodopseudomonas Acidophilla, determined by protein crystallography on the SRS.

The structures of a number of important bodily proteins have also been determined in this way, including human cerulo-plasmin - a blue coloured protein thought to be involved in the release of iron from cells - and F1-ATPase - an enzyme essential to cellular energy conversion.

Human Ceruloplasmin, a copper carrying protein found in the blood plasma.