Workshop 2

"Applications of Synchrotron-Based Microprobe and Imaging Techniques to Studies of Human Disease"

Date: Monday, May 19, 2008

Organizer(s):
Antonio Lanzirotti (CARS-University of Chicago) lanzirotti@bnl.gov
Lisa Miller (BNL-NSLS) lmiller@bnl.gov

Location:  Berkner Hall, Bldg. 488, Conference Room B

Description:

Virtually all diseases that affect the human condition are associated with changes in the biochemistry of cells or tissue. These changes can be manifested by altered tissue and cell morphology and chemical composition. Synchrotron-based microprobe and imaging techniques are providing innovative new tools for measuring these biochemical and morphological changes with unprecedented spatial resolution and detection sensitivity across a broad spectrum of conditions. For example, infrared microspectroscopy and x-ray fluorescence microprobe have been used to measure and image protein structural changes and metal uptake in Alzheimer’s disease, prion diseases, and macular degeneration. Microfocused x-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy has significant potential in allowing for in-situ characterization of the effects of oxidative stress on metal species in the body. In toxicology, microbeam methods such as x-ray fluorescence, absorption, and diffraction are being recognized as unique tools in evaluating how varying metal(loid) toxicity and bioavailability is affected by changes in speciation within the human body.

While the life sciences community is generally well-versed in macromolecular crystallography capabilities, they are much less familiar with the techniques available for disease study from the NSLS’ microprobe and imaging beamlines. This is clearly changing, as these beamlines are seeing a significant growth in proposals submitted by the life sciences community to make use of this suite of instruments. This workshop is targeted to a broad user community of medical researchers that wish to familiarize themselves with how these techniques may be applied to the study of human disease. The workshop agenda will include an overview of the how hard x-ray microprobe, infrared imaging, and transmission x-ray microscopy techniques can be applied to biological systems. Scientific examples that may be discussed include Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, prion diseases, osteoporosis, infertility, cancer studies, macular degeneration, and the toxicity of metal (loids) such as arsenic, lead, cadmium, and methyl-mercury.