Infrared Spectromicroscopy featured on journal cover

Summary

Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are using the infrared spectromicroscopy station on beamline 1.4.3 of the Advanced Light Source (ALS) to study chemical changes in living cells under various physiological conditions and stresses. This research is featured on the cover of the February 2001 issue of Applied Spectroscopy, the premier journal for research applying all forms of spectroscopy to scientific and technical problems. The cover shows a picture of the ALS, a diagram of the beamline and station, a picture of the apparatus, the results of a study of beam sharpness, and pictures representing applications of the new technique in geomicrobiology and cellular biology.

Inside this issue is a research article demonstrating that exposure to the infrared beam from the synchrotron does not appreciably heat a biological sample. This is the first step toward one main objective of the BER-funded research, to determine whether exposure to the beam has any near- or long-term physiological effects on individual living cells. Viability tests on cells exposed to the beam are now being carried out. In a second aspect of the research, an infrared microscope stage that enables incubation of cells under controlled conditions is being developed for application in biomedical research. The principal investigators are Hoi-Ying N. Holman, Michael C. Martin, and Wayne R. McKinney.