National center for X-ray tomography opens at Berkeley

The National Center for X-ray Tomography (NCXT) has officially been dedicated at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). The main objects are biological/biomedical imaging and cell biology. Currently, soft X-ray tomography is being developed as a new tool for visualizing the internal architecture of whole, hydrated cells. This emerging technique has several distinct advantages over existing imaging methods, and is contributing new insights into our understanding of cells, and their behavior. A new soft X-ray microscope will be constructed at the Advanced Light Source, and will be open for use by the biomedical community in spring 2007. For more information, visit the website at http://ncxt.lbl.gov/