physics world on X-ray microscopy of cells

These results, published in Phys. Rev. Lett., were picked up on 10 November 2009 by physics world, the journal of the UK Institute of Physics.

Taking Images of what's inside a cell is difficult because optical microscopes cannot resolve structures smaller than around 0.4µm, and electron microscopes do not penetrate deep into cells.

X-ray diffraction microscopy can image whole cells at high resolution but X-rays damage biological samples which in turn reduces spatial resolution. A new cooling technique for the samples has now prolonged their life time in the X-ray beam and opened a path for using X-ray diffraction microscopy to take highly resolved X-ray images of individual cells.

http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/40907