User experiments
23. January 2013
Excitement that rivals a moon landing
Matter and Material User Experiments Research Using Synchrotron LightInterview with Thomas Huthwelker
The Paul Scherrer Institut makes its research facilities available to scientists from all over the world. To ensure these scientists are exposed to optimal conditions when they arrive is the hard work of many PSI staff. An interview with one of these scientists provides a glimpse behind the scenes. This interview is taken from the latest issue of the PSI Magazine Fenster zur Forschung
17. October 2012
The evolutionary origins of our pretty smile
Media Releases Biology User Experiments Research Using Synchrotron LightUntil recently, it was not obvious whether the earliest vertebrates (animals with a backbone) which had jawbones already possessed teeth or not. Now, an international research team has shown that the jaws of the prehistoric fish Compagopiscis already had teeth. This means that teeth appeared at the same evolutionary time as jaws – or at least shortly afterwards. The leaders of this project were scientists from the University of Bristol, England, who carried out their decisive experiments at the SLS at PSI.
16. October 2012
X-rays provide insights into volcanic processes
Media Releases Research Using Synchrotron Light Environment User ExperimentsExperiments performed at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) investigate processes inside volcanic materials that determine whether a volcano will erupt violently or mildly. In the experiments, scientists heated small pieces of volcanic material similarly to conditions present at the beginning of a volcanic eruption. They used X-rays from the SLS to observe, in real time, what happens to the rock as it goes from the solid to the molten state.
16. February 2012
How the body distinguishes between self and non-self – important structures explained
Media Releases Biology User Experiments Research Using Synchrotron LightLike a shredder, the immunoproteasome cuts down proteins into peptides that are subsequently presented on the cellular surface. The immune system can distinguish between self and non-self peptides and selectively kills cells that present non-self peptides at their surface. In autoimmune diseases, this mechanism is deregulated. However, inhibition of the immunoproteasome may alleviate disease symptoms and progression. With the help of measurements taken at the Paul Scherer Institute, scientists have now succeeded in determining the first structure of an immunoproteasome.
23. December 2011
Fossile Vorläufer der ersten Tiere
Media Releases Biology Research Using Synchrotron Light User ExperimentsEinzellige Organismen, die vor über einer halben Milliarde Jahre gelebt haben und deren Fossilien in China gefunden wurden, sind wohl die unmittelbaren Vorläufer der frühesten Tiere. Die amöbenartigen Einzeller haben sich in einer Weise in zwei, vier, acht usw. Zellen geteilt, wie es heute tierische (und menschliche) Embryonen tun. Die Forscher glauben, dass diese Organismen einem der ersten Schritte vom Einzeller zum Vielzeller in der Entwicklung richtiger Tiere entsprechen.
This news release is only available in German.
11. November 2011
Nanoforscher untersuchen Karies
Media Releases Biology Medical Science Research Using Synchrotron Light User ExperimentsForscher der Universität Basel und des Paul Scherrer Instituts konnten im Nanomassstab zeigen, wie sich Karies auf die menschlichen Zähne auswirkt. Ihre Studie eröffnet neue Perspektiven für die Behandlung von Zahnschäden, bei denen heute nur der Griff zum Bohrer bleibt. Die Forschungsergebnisse wurden in der Fachzeitschrift «Nanomedicine» veröffentlicht.
This news release is only available in German.
15. September 2011
Plants create a water reserve in the soil
Media Releases Research Using Neutrons Biology User ExperimentsAn international research team has now demonstrated in experiments at the Paul Scherrer Institute that the soil in the vicinity of roots contains more water that that further away. Apparently, plants create a small water reserve that helps to tide them over through short periods of drought. These results were obtained from experiments carried out with the benefit of neutron tomography.
18. August 2011
Getting inside the mind (and up the nose) of our ancient ancestors
Media Releases Biology Research Using Synchrotron Light User ExperimentsReorganisation of the brain and sense organs could be the key to the evolutionary success of vertebrates, one of the great puzzles in evolutionary biology, according to a paper by an international team of researchers, published today in Nature. The study claims to have solved this scientific riddle by studying the brain of a 400 million year old fossilized jawless fish – an evolutionary intermediate between the living jawless and jawed vertebrates.
18. January 2011
Understanding the nanomachines of life
Media Releases Biology User Experiments Research Using Synchrotron LightRibosomes are the protein factories of the living cell and themselves very complex biomolecules. Now, a French research group has for the first time determined the structure of the ribosome in a eukaryotic cell – a complex cell containing a cell nucleus. An important part of the experiments was performed with synchrotron light at the Swiss Light Source SLS of the Paul Scherrer Institute.
28. June 2010
Proton pump generates energy from food and oxygen
Media Releases Biology Research Using Synchrotron Light User ExperimentsA central feature of any living organism is that food reacts with oxygen and, in the process, energy is released and made available for a variety of reactions within the organism. Using investigations performed at the Swiss Light Source, SLS, researchers have now been able to explain a crucial part of this process at a molecular level.
7. October 2009
Winner of Nobel Prize in Chemistry is long-term user of Swiss Light Source at the Paul Scherrer Institute
Media Releases Research Using Synchrotron Light User Experiments BiologyThe Paul Scherrer Institute congratulates Professor Venkatraman Ramakrishnan on the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Ramakrishnan is a long-term user of the Swiss Light Source SLS at the Paul Scherrer Institut in Switzerland. He used this facility for his prize winning studies on the structure of the ribosome.
21. November 2007
The early relatives of flowering plants
Biology User Experiments Research Using Synchrotron LightHigh-resolution phase-contrast X-ray images of fossil seeds
The emergence of flowering plants is regarded as a major botanical mystery. In the 22nd November edition of the scientific magazine “Nature”, an international research team with participation from the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) publishes results that shed fresh light on this controversial question. New three-dimensional non-destructive imaging procedures have been used to carry out investigations into fossilised plant seeds. As a result, it has been possible to confirm an earlier scientific theory, which had previously been cast into doubt by molecular genetic analyses.