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A COSMIC Approach to Nanoscale Science

COSMIC, a multipurpose x-ray instrument, has made headway since its launch less than two years ago, with groundbreaking contributions in fields ranging from batteries to biominerals. Its capabilities include world-leading microscopy resolution, extreme chemical sensitivity, and ultrafast scanning speed. Read more »

Additive Lithography–Organic Monolayer Patterning Coupled with an Area-Selective Deposition

This scene depicts the layer-by-layer growth of an inorganic film in a selected area. The alternation of a chemical agent (blue) deposits on a gray substrate to form an inorganic film.  A cross-linked organic material (tan) locally inhibits this reaction and prevents film deposition. Furthermore, the pattern-wise cross-linking of this organic film enables nanoscale pattern generation. Read more »

Ashley White Selected as Women @ The Lab 2020 Honoree

The Women Scientists & Engineers Council recognizes the Women @ The Lab 2020 honorees for their meritorious professional contributions, leadership, mentorship, and outreach. A virtual W@TL event is being planned for March 30th, 3:00 pm–4:30 pm. Read more »

Ken Baptiste, Electrical Engineering Group Leader

Ken Baptiste has been with the ALS since its origin, and he’s been known for his delicious rum cake that entire time. Along the way, he’s learned about the importance of meticulous planning and discovered a few hidden spaces at the Lab. Read more »

To Speed Discovery, Infrared Microscopy Goes “Off the Grid”

Researchers developed a highly efficient way to collect infrared microscopy data that avoids the use of slow, grid-based raster scans. The method substantially reduces image-acquisition times by autonomously increasing sampling density in regions of interest, facilitating infrared spectromicroscopy of biochemical processes in real time. Read more »

Chiral Spin Textures in Amorphous Iron–Germanium Thick Films

Robert Streubel and co‐workers report the formation of topological magnetization vector fields in disordered materials with local inversion symmetry breaking, harnessing high‐resolution Lorentz microscopy, quantitative x‐ray microspectroscopy, and coherent scattering. The image shows the reconstructed in‐plane magnetic induction of closely packed Bloch skyrmions embedded into helical spins. Read more »

3D Whole-Cell Mapping of Insulin Secretion

Researchers used soft x-ray tomography to gain a 3D whole-cell view of how insulin-producing pancreatic cells react upon exposure to glucose and a diabetes drug. The approach enables direct quantification of intracellular responses before, during, and after cell stimulation, providing new insights into how drugs alter cell function. Read more »PPT-icon-35 PDF-icon-35

Probing Composite Materials to Make Better Batteries

Researchers found that when an ion-conducting polymer composite is placed in an electric field, it forms ion-rich hotspots that continue to grow for hours after the field is removed. The study opens a new path to understanding the dynamic structure of composite materials for smaller, lighter batteries. Read more »PPT-icon-35 PDF-icon-35

Construction, characterization and crystal structure of a fluorescent single-chain Fv chimera

In vitro display technologies based on phage and yeast have a successful history of selecting single-chain variable fragment (scFv) antibodies against various targets. However, single-chain antibodies are often unstable and poorly expressed. We explore the feasibility of converting scFv antibodies to an intrinsically fluorescent format by inserting a monomeric, stable fluorescent protein between the light- and heavy-chain variable regions. Read more »