The Advanced Photon Source
a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility

Boosting the Performance of a Lower-Cost Fuel Cell Catalyst:  The findings from these studies, carried out at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, along with fuel cell performance and durability data, supports cobalt-based catalysts as potential game-changers in the race to establish fuel cells as a sustainable energy solution.

New Form of Silicon Could Enable Next-Gen Electronic and Energy Devices:  Hexagonal forms of silicon have been synthesized previously, but only through the deposition of thin films or as nanocrystals that coexist with disordered material. In work based in large part on research carried out at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source, researchers report a synthesis pathway that produces the first high-quality, bulk crystals that serve as the basis for future research activities.

A Template for Inhibiting SARS-CoV-2 Replication:  Researchers using the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source determined crystal structures that will help guide the development of small-molecule drugs designed to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Proteins of a Feather Come Together to Create Color:  Biologists would like to understand how and why birds are brightly colored. Some materials scientists look to nature to find better ways to recreate such colors. A study conducted using the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source points to possible answers to both those questions and represents the first directly self-assembled single gyroid crystals known to science, potentially opening new photonic technologies.

Engineering New Treatments for Cancer:  Trametinib, one example of a class of drugs known as MEK inhibitors, is a drug used to treat specific forms of skin and lung cancer and may be useful for treating several other forms of disease. A study carried out at three U.S. Department of Energy x-ray light sources, including the Advanced Photon Source, solved a trametinib mystery and may pave the way for a new generation of cancer drugs.

Better-Educated Neural Networks for Nanoscale 3-D Coherent X-ray Imaging:  One of the inescapable realities of various imaging techniques is called the phase problem: the loss of phase information in imaging methods such as x-ray diffraction. Researchers working at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source have demonstrated a new approach to this perennial obstacle: a deep-learning neural network with enhanced accuracy to perform fast 3-D nanoscale imaging from coherent x-ray data.

Mouse Brain Imaged from the Microscopic to the Macroscopic Level:  Researchers at the University of Chicago and the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Laboratory imaged an entire mouse brain across five orders of magnitude of resolution, allowing scientists to better connect existing imaging approaches and uncover new details about the structure of the brain.

Ultrafast X-rays Track Charge Flows in a Promising Photovoltaic Material:  A class of materials known as lead halide perovskites show remarkable potential for use in optoelectronic applications. Experiments carried out at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source should improve the theoretical framework used to describe these materials, thereby hastening their practical use for solar power and other applications.

Escape Artist:  Research at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Photon Source sheds light on the ways in which compromised immunity may render SARS-CoV-2 fitter and capable of evading the immune system.

UCLA and UIC Researchers Discover Foam “Fizzics”:  Researchers using the APS answered longstanding questions about the underlying processes that determine the life cycle of liquid foams, which could help improve the commercial production and application of foams in a broad range of industries and could lead to improved products.

Using Protein Structural Information to Understand the Mechanism of an Essential Enzyme for Fighting Tuberculosis:  Antibiotic resistance is a global problem that many scientists are racing to solve. Researchers using the APS gained important insights into understanding the structure and mechanism of a critical enzyme involved in protein synthesis in tuberculosis, work that will form the basis of structure-based drug design efforts aimed at exploiting the unique features of this enzyme in developing new pharmaceuticals.