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Tiny microbes and molecular machines have an outsized impact on human health, and they play key roles in the vast global cycles that shape climate and make carbon and nitrogen available to all living things. 

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Science of life

This illustration shows arrestin, an important type of signaling protein

News Feature

SLAC celebrates five days of ultrafast science.

News Feature

The study at SLAC’s X-ray laser was a step toward understanding how DNA defends itself from breakage and potential mutations.

Press Release

X-ray studies have produced surprising insights into the workings of a hormone receptor associated with blood pressure regulation that could be a target for...

Powerful X-rays reveal molecular structures at the site where drug compounds interact with cell receptors.
News Feature

A research collaboration designed a new assembly-line system that rapidly replaces exposed samples and allows the team to study reactions in real-time.

News Feature

Paleontologist Phil Manning describes the “Imaging Life on Earth” project at TEDxCharleston.

Press Release

New X-ray methods have captured the highest resolution room-temperature images of photosystem II.

Press Release

Scientists used SLAC's LCLS X-ray laser to make the first snapshots of a chemical interaction between two biomolecules. It changes the shape of millions...

Illustration depicting a chemical interaction as synchronized swimmers.
News Feature

The team determined the 3-D structure of a biomolecule by tagging it with selenium atoms and taking hundreds of thousands of images.

Press Release

SLAC’s X-ray laser provides clues to engineering a new protein to kill mosquitos that carry dengue and Zika.

Scientists shed light on the three-dimensional structure of BinAB and its mode of action.
News Feature

The discovery is one of the first steps towards mapping hues of fossilized species.

American kestrel feather
News Feature

The new MFX station expands the X-ray laser’s capability and flexibility for biological studies, which are increasingly in demand at SLAC's Linac Coherent Light...

Press Release

High-speed X-ray camera reveals ultrafast atomic motions at the root of organisms’ ability to turn light into biological function.

a protein from photosynthetic bacteria