X-ray ptychography, fluorescence microscopy combo sheds new light on trace elements

(Press-News.org) ARGONNE, Ill. - Scientists have developed a new approach that combines ptychographic X-ray imaging and fluorescence microscopy to study the important role trace elements play in biological functions on hydrated cells.

A team of researchers using the Advanced Photon Source, a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility at Argonne National Laboratory, demonstrated unparalleled sensitivity for measuring the distribution of trace elements in thicker specimens at cryogenic temperatures, in this case at about 260 degrees below Fahrenheit.

Trace metals are important in normal and disease-causing biological functions. Until now, researchers believe, it was impossible to obtain images of biological samples with such high combined structural and chemical fidelity.

"X-ray fluorescence lets us see trace metals in cells with fantastic sensitivity, and ptychography lets us correlate that with cellular ultrastructure," said Junjing Deng, an applied physics graduate student at Northwestern University. Ptychography is an approach to obtain absorption and phase contrast images from scattered light with no lens-imposed resolution limit, making use of the overlap between multiple coherent illumination spots.

Scientists studied a frozen-hydrated green algae specimen. Frozen hydrated samples under cryogenic conditions are better able to withstand beam-induced degradation and can provide high-fidelity structural and ionic elemental preservation.

"This advance required the high brightness of the APS as an X-ray source and points the way to advances that can be expected as it is planned to be increased a hundredfold in the future," said Chris Jacobsen, an associate division director in the X-ray Sciences Division at Argonne and a professor at Northwestern University.

INFORMATION:

Research was conducted at the APS' Bionanoprobe, a hard X-ray nanoprobe with cryogenic sample transfer capabilities at beamline 21-ID-D.

The research, "Simultaneous cryo X-ray ptychographic and fluorescence microscopy of green algae," is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The studies' authors are JunJing Deng and Qiaoling Jin, Northwestern University; Chris Jacobsen, Northwestern University and the X-ray Science Division (XSD) at Argonne; David Vine, Si Chen and Stefan Vogt, XSD; Youssef Nashed, Tom Peterka and Rob Ross, the Mathematics and Computing Science Division at Argonne; and Nicholas Phillips, LaTrobe University, the Australian Research Council and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization Manufacturing Flagship.

Support for this research was provided by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of General Medical Sciences and National Center for Research Resources, and by the APS.

Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology. The nation's first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America's scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. DOE's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.