Maia lab

We pursue new ways to explore the wonderfully complex world of structural dynamics at the nanoscale. We are focused on the development of lensless imaging methods using X-rays, making use of X-ray free-electron lasers as a powerful coherent light source.A common theme across many modern imaging techniques is the increasing complexity of the experimental setups. as well as the data analysis. Our lab focuses on both building new instrumentation, such as container free sample delivery for X-ray single particle imaging experiments, as well as creating the algorithms for analysing the resulting data. This co-design of all parts of the experiment is crucial to the success and requires a wide range of expertise, from biology to physicis and computer science, resulting in a highly collaborative and cross-disciplinary environment.

Popular science presentation

Proteins are the fundamental machines of biological systems, but observing them in action is incredibly difficult because they are tiny and constantly moving. In our lab, we aim to solve this by using the world's most powerful X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) to take ultra-fast snapshots of individual proteins. By hitting these molecules with extremely short and intense X-ray pulses, we can capture their structures before the brilliant radiation has a chance to destroy them. To bypass the need to artificially freeze or crystallize samples, we are pioneering two distinct approaches for delivering the proteins into the X-ray beam:

  • Aerosol-based imaging: Where we use electrospray ionization to inject isolated, single proteins while drastically reducing background noise using a controlled helium environment.
  • Solution-based imaging: Where we use an innovative, ultra-thin 50-nanometer liquid sheet jet to aim to detect the diffraction of single proteins directly in their near-native liquid environment.

The ultimate goal of our research is to record "molecular movies" that reveal exactly how proteins change shape as they perform vital functions. By capturing sub-millisecond protein dynamics one molecule at a time—whether flying through a gas or suspended in a natural liquid solution—our work opens completely new horizons for understanding fundamental biological processes like enzyme catalysis, signal transduction, and protein folding.

Research

We make use of cutting-edge technological developments, such as X-rays free-electron lasers, 4th generation sycnhrotrons and the massive computing power brought about by GPUs to advance X-ray lensless imaging methods. Our projects span X-ray single particle diffractive imaging, fluctuation X-ray scattering and ptychography. For more information, please check https://lmb.icm.uu.se.

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