X-rays enable a direct view inside biological cells

spotlight254-featureStructures within intact biological cells have been resolved quantitatively at the nanoscale using a combination of ptychography and scanning X-ray nanodiffraction. Employed sequentially, these techniques provided high resolution real space and reciprocal space images while exposing the cells to a comparatively small radiation dose. The structural arrangement and diameter of keratin protein bundles inside epithelial cells was revealed and filament diameters and distances could be derived.

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