X-ray Microscopy: New Views into Cells and Tissues

Upon their discovery in late 1895, X-rays became an instant worldwide sensation for their ability to image bones inside the body. A second revolution followed decades later with protein crystallography, delivering atomic-resolution maps of biomolecular structures. We are in the midst of a third revolution, where X-ray brightness at accelerator-based sources such as the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne has been increasing faster than Moore’s law in computing, and where nanofocusing optics and imaging methods allow us to see new detail in cells and tissues. This talk will review some of these advances, comparing the relative roles of X-ray and electron microscopy, and showing chemical and ultrastructural imaging in cells and microanatomical detail in tissues.