Accelerating Discovery in Biology, Bioenergy, and Environmental Research
In the journal Communications Biology, researchers from Caltech, UC Berkeley, and Berkeley Lab’s Synchrotron Infrared Structural Biology Imaging Program reported on a more efficient way to collect “high-dimensional” infrared images—where each pixel contains rich physical and chemical information. With the new method, scans that would’ve taken up to 10 hours to complete can now be done in under Read More …
Infrared spectromicroscopy coupled with X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis show evidence that vertebrate blood vessels from a 66-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex tibia may persist across geologic “deep time” through two natural, protein-fusing processes: Fenton chemistry and glycation. This work provides direct evidence how soft-tissue structures may be preserved in dinosaur bones—countering long-standing scientific dogma that Read More …
Dr. Jennifer Nill is the recipient of the 2020 Zuhair A. Munir Award for the best doctoral dissertation in the College of Engineering. She received her Ph.D. in chemical engineering in December 2019. Nill uses a technique that combines infrared light and atomic force microscopy to obtain chemical and physical images of cellulose on the Read More …