Researchers – including those at the University of Siegen – are capturing protein dynamics in cell-like crowded environments at the European XFEL. This could help, for example, to develop new drugs and to study the development of diseases.
Proteins are responsible for many of the body’s functions and understanding protein dynamics in cells enables scientists to learn more about drug design and disease pathology. Now, an international research team has identified a new way of probing protein dynamics using the high repetition rate and coherence of the X-ray flashes produced by the European X-ray Free-Electron Laser (EuXFEL). The study, published in Nature Communications, uses a technique called megahertz X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy (MHz-XPCS) and could open new applications in health and pharmaceuticals.