Design of a liquid cell toward three-dimensional imaging of unidirectionally-aligned particles in solution using X-ray free-electron lasers

X-ray free-electron lasers (XFELs) opened up a possibility for molecular-scale single particle imaging (SPI) without the need for crystallization. In SPI experiments, the orientation of each particle has to be determined from the measured diffraction pattern. Preparing unidirectionally-aligned particles can facilitate the determination of the sample orientation. Here, we show the design principles of a liquid cell for three-dimensional imaging of unidirectionally-aligned particles in solution with XFELs. The liquid cell was designed so that neither incident X-rays nor diffracted X-rays are blocked by the substrate of the liquid cell even at high tilt angles. As a feasibility evaluation, we performed coherent diffraction measurements using the cells with a 1 mm focused XFEL beam. We successfully measured coherent diffraction patterns of a nano-fabricated metal pattern at 701 tilt angle and obtained the reconstructed image by applying iterative phase retrieval. The liquid cell will be usefully applied to molecular-scale SPI by using more tightly focused XFELs. In particular, imaging of membrane proteins embedded in lipid membranes is expected to have an enormous impact on life science and medicine

Development of in situ crosslinked hyaluronan as an adjunct to vitrectomy surgery

Abstract Ophthalmologists have used hyaluronan (HA) products as adjuncts to ocular surgery since the 1970s. However, HA products are not always functional in surgeries of the posterior eye segment due to their lack of biomechanical strength. In this study, we developed an in situ crosslinked HA (XL-HA) and evaluated its potential as an adjunct to vitrectomy surgery in an in vitro model with a triamcinolone acetonide (TA) layer used as a pseudo residual vitreous cortex (RVC). Within a few minutes at concentrations over 0.9%, XL-HA, generated by the click chemistry of HA-dibenzocyclooctyne and HA-azidoethylamine, formed a hydrogel with the appropriate hardness for tweezers peeling. XL-HA (concentration, 0.76–1.73%) without dispersion successfully entered the TA layer and removed more than 45% of the total TA. Dynamic viscoelasticity helps to explain the rheological behavior of hydrogels, and the assessment results for XL-HA indicated that suitable concentrations were between 0.97% and 1.30%. For example, 1.30% XL-HA hydrogel reached sufficient hardness at 3 min for tweezers peeling, and the TA removal ability exceeded 70%. These results demonstrated that XL-HA was a potential adjunct to successful vitrectomy. Graphical Abstrac

On-Ground Calibration of the Hitomi Hard X-Ray Telescopes

We present x-ray characteristics of the Hard X-ray Telescopes (HXTs) on board the Hitomi (ASTRO-H) satellite. Measurements were conducted at the SPring-8 BL20B2 beamline and the ISAS/JAXA 27-m beamline