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Structural Characterization of a Synthetic Tandem-Domain Bacterial Microcompartment Shell Protein Capable of Forming Icosahedral Shell Assemblies

Bacterial microcompartments (BMCs) are subcellular compartments found in many prokaryotes, and they are of considerable interest for biotechnological applications. The BMC-H2 shell system constitutes a relatively simple generic building block that could be used to construct designed shells with a relatively highly tunable pore. Read more »

Electric Skyrmions Charge Ahead for Next-Generation Data Storage

Researchers have observed chirality for the first time in polar skyrmions in a material with reversible electrical properties. The combination of polar skyrmions and these electrical properties could one day lead to applications such as more powerful data storage devices that hold information even after a device has been powered off. Read more »

Antibody Uses Mimicry to Block SARS Coronavirus

Protein structures not only revealed how SARS and MERS antibodies inhibit the viruses from attaching to host cells, they also revealed an unprecedented example of receptor mimicry that triggers the cell-invasion machinery of the SARS virus. The results inform efforts to prevent and treat these serious, often deadly, respiratory diseases. Read more »PPT-icon-35 PDF-icon-35

Jonathan Denlinger, ARPES Staff Scientist

Jonathan Denlinger has amassed significant expertise in x-ray spectroscopy, having been at the ALS since 1993. His experience benefits the many users at the MERLIN beamline and the greater scientific community—he was named an American Physical Society Outstanding Referee for his work reviewing articles. Read more »

March 2019 Message from the UEC

Fanny Rodolakis, the chair of the Users’ Executive Committee (UEC) for 2019, reports on the most recent UEC meeting and calls for workshop and tutorial suggestions for this year’s User Meeting. Read more »

A New Twist in Soft X-Ray Beams

Visible-light beams with orbital angular momentum (OAM) have been used in applications ranging from communications and imaging to particle manipulation. Now, researchers have generated high-quality OAM beams in the soft x-ray regime, with intriguing possibilities for future use at high-coherence, diffraction-limited light sources. Read more »

Mechanical Competence and Bone Quality Develop During Skeletal Growth

Researchers explored how bone quality and mechanical competence progress during longitudinal bone growth. Deformation at the tissue, fibril, and mineral length scales was investigated with mechanical tensile tests during small and wide-angle x-ray scattering/diffraction (SAXS/WAXD) experiments, revealing dramatic differences in mechanical resistance with age.  Read more »

Evidence of a Long-Predicted Magnet

Half a century ago, theorists proposed a novel way for materials to produce a magnetic field. Now, scientists have discovered a uranium compound that bears out that long-ago theory—a new type of magnet that holds promise for enhancing the performance of data storage technologies. Read more »

The Best Topological Conductor Yet: Spiraling Crystal Is the Key to Exotic Discovery

Researchers have discovered the strongest topological conductor yet, in the form of thin crystal samples that have a spiral-staircase structure. The realization of so-called topological materials—which exhibit exotic, defect-resistant properties and are expected to have applications in electronics, optics, quantum computing, and other fields—has opened up a new realm in materials discovery. Read more »