Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory's High Flux Isotope Reactor are getting a leg up in their research from an ingenious "low-tech" lighting tool using LEDs that, when fixed to their samples and pushed directly into the neutron beam, illuminate the response of layers of cyanobacteria to changes in light. The neutron beam passes through a window, taking "pictures" of the response of the bacteria to variations in light from the attached LEDs. The studies, conducted at a small-angle neutron scattering instrument designed especially for biological research, are useful for developing biomimetic and bioanalytical solar cell devices and for demonstrating that chlorosomes are alternatives to other protein pigment complexes produced in photosynthetic organisms.
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