Lab News & Scientific Highlights

Mit einer Rekordauflösung von 4 Nanometern gelang es Forschenden am PSI, die räumliche Struktur eines Computerchips mithilfe von Röntgenlicht abzubilden.

X-ray nano-tomography reveals collective behavior in synthetic self-assembled nanostructures. The new method opens opportunities for the synthesis of photonic and plasmonic materials with improved long-range ordering.

Forschende des PSI und des Technologietransferzentrums ANAXAM finden die Ursache für Verstopfungen bei vorgefüllten Fertigspritzen.

Microcalcifications, small deposits of calcium-containing minerals that form in breast tissue, are often, but not always, a warning sign of breast cancer. The relationship between microcalcifications and cancer has not been fully understood thus far. Researchers discovered now that the relationship between microcalcifications and tumors seems to be linked to the presence of a particular mineral called whitlockite, which is rich in magnesium and is found in microcalcifications only in the absence of tumors.

Mit 3-D-Druck komplexe Formen herstellen

Präzises 3-D-Röntgen kann Brustkrebsvorsorge verbessern.

In a study published in Nature Photonics, researchers at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, explain the bright, white-colored stripes from Pacific cleaner shrimps, one of the most efficient white reflectors found in nature.

On June 7, 2023, the PXIII project team successfully shone the first light into the optics hutch at the upgraded X06DA-PXIII beamline. It is an essential first step for testing new hardware and software solutions that will be implemented at SLS2.0.

Researchers led by the University of Málaga show the Portland cement early age hydration with microscopic detail and high contrast between the components. This knowledge may contribute to more environmentally friendly manufacturing processes.

Synchrotronlicht hilft dabei, nach einer Herztransplantation zu beurteilen, ob und wie stark der Körper das neue Organ abstösst.

Researchers at the Swiss Light Source SLS use X-ray phase contrast imaging to study a heart in action as it beats.

Dr. Manuel Guizar-Sicairos, currently Senior Scientist at PSI, was appointed as Associate Professor of Physics in EPF Lausanne and head of the Computational X-ray Imaging group in PSI.

Dr. Manuel Guizar-Sicairos was elected as a 2022 SPIE Fellow Member for his contributions to coherent lensless imaging, including ptychography and X-ray nano-tomography. The distinction was awarded in the SPIE’s Optics & Photonics conference in San Diego, California.

Das Geheimnis des Zwischgolds wurde am PSI gelüftet.

Röntgenlicht löst ein Rätsel der menschlichen Abstammung

Proteins hover in front of the X-ray beam at a Swiss Light Source beamline. Now, spinning thin films bring on board these trickiest of proteins.

Mit schraubenförmigem Röntgenlicht lassen sich spiegelbildliche Substanzen – sogenannte Enantiomere – besser voneinander unterscheiden.

PSI hosted again the Hercules School in March 2022. We had the pleasure to welcome 20 international PhD students, PostDocs and scientists to demonstrate our state-of-the-art techniques and methodologies at our large scale facilities, the Swiss Light Source (SLS), the Swiss Spallation Neutron Source (SINQ) and our free electron laser SwissFEL.

Erstmals gibt es nun eine achromatische Linse auch für Röntgenlicht – entwickelt am PSI.

Researchers from Italy, in collaboration with the Paul Scherrer Institut, successfully used the macromolecular crystallography beamline X06DA-PXIII at the Swiss Light Source to characterize promising perovkites materials used in solar cells and other photodetector devices.

A molecular movie shot at PSI reveals the mechanism of a light-driven chloride pump

In an exciting collaboration, Nick Phillips, a PSI Fellow at the cSAXS beamline, reveals nanoscale lattice distortions created by invisible defects in fusion reactor armor. This work develops the current understanding of how the smallest, but most prevalent defects, generated during neutron irradiation behave. The novel Bragg ptychographic approach published in Nature Communications paves the way for fast, robust, 3D Bragg ptychography.

PSI researchers win the international Innovation Award on Synchrotron Radiation for 3D mapping of nanoscopic details in macroscopic specimens, such as bone.

Collagen is abundant in the connective tissue of human beings, e.g. in tendons, ligament and cornea. Glycation of collagen distorts its structure, renders the extracellular matrix stiff and brittle and at the same time lowers the degradation susceptibility thereby preventing renewal. Based on models and with parameters determined from experimental data, we describe the glycation of type 1 collagen in bovine pericardium derived bio-tissues upon incubation in glucose and ribose. We hope that this contributes to a better quantitative understanding of the effects of diabetes on collagen.

Dr. Manuel Guizar-Sicairos, beamline scientist at the cSAXS beamline, is the 2019 recipient of the International Commission for Optics (ICO) Prize. The distinction was awarded in the EOSAM conference in Rome.

PSI-Forschende haben eine neue Methode entwickelt, um Proteine auf der Oberfläche von virusartigen Partikeln anzubringen.

An der Synchrotron Lichtquelle Schweiz SLS haben Forschende einen neuen Rekord in einer Bildgebungsmethode namens Tomoskopie aufgestellt.

Weshalb die Hülle eines Meerestiers im Wasser weich, an der Luft aber hart ist.

An international team involving researchers from the University and University Hospital Zürich, the Krembil Research Institute and the University and University Hospital in Toronto (Canada), the Department of Physics of Jyväskylä (Finland), the University of Leuven (Belgium), the Johannes Kepler University in Linz (Austria), the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research in Emeryville (USA), the ETH Zürich and the Paul Scherrer Institute has developed a protocol that enables hierarchical imaging and computational analysis of vascular networks in entire postnatal- and adult mouse brains, enabling direct and quantitative comparisons of the morphological brain vascular network architecture between different postnatal and / or adult developmental stages. The results have been published on Nature Protocols on September 3rd, 2021.

In a study published in EMBO Journal, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany, developed nanobodies that efficiently block the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 and its variants. The high resolution structural characterization was performed at the X10SA crystallography beamline at the Swiss Light Source.