Using SLAC’s Linac Coherent Light Source, researchers created “molecular movies” of an enzyme linked to cancer and another essential to penicillin production.
Researchers used SLAC’s Linac Coherent Light Source to study the AspH enzyme – a potential therapeutic target for cancer treatment – and the isopenicillin N synthase (IPNS) enzyme, which is essential for creating all of the medicinally important penicillin antibiotics.
By leveraging the power of ultrabright, ultrashort X-ray bursts, they found that these enzymes catalyze reactions in surprising ways.
If scientists can better understand the structure and function of these enzymes, they could potentially use them as biomarkers and therapeutic targets for cancer, or for a method to develop new antibiotics.
Femtosecond X-ray pulses. Very cool.