Meeting Overview

The programme starts with a User Meeting which gives an overview of recent research using the ASTRID storage ring. This will include surface science for microchip technology, catalysis, studies of semi-metals, ion photoionization and cold electron collisions with solids. This meeting will slot into a workshop devoted to molecular biology and biomedical research, fields in which low energy synchrotron radiation (SR) is emerging as a powerful tool. This workshop is intended to bring together experts in the physics applications of SR and researchers with a background in biology and medicine with an aim to defining common interests in the use of SR. The Aarhus facility has considerable experience in the application of SR circular dichroism spectroscopy and X-ray microscopy to the studies of biomolecules and cells. Both techniques target structural information on biological systems in solution, allowing the monitoring of molecular dynamics and cell response in settings close to physiological conditions. Under the auspices of the COST P9 EU-ESF, the meeting programme will include talks on radiation damage with photons and electrons. Participants will also be updated on progress in the use of circular dichroism spectroscopy in the analysis of structure of biological macromolecules, with the emphasis on advantages of SR in this technique.

We will add a perspective on current uses of SR in X-ray microscopy for studies of cellular systems in the biomedical field. We plan to make the workshop a forum for workers seeking a primer on interdisciplinary collaborations in the fields of SR and biology.

Attendees are encouraged to bring their own samples for circular dichroism and X-ray microscopy analysis.