MX in a nutshell
Macromolecular crystallography (MX) is a technique used to determine the three-dimensional structure of biological macromolecules, such as proteins, DNA, or RNA, through X-ray diffraction methods.
The MX Facilities at PSI
The Macromolecular Crystallography group is responsible for three beamlines at the Swiss Light Source, the Cristallina-MX endstation at SwissFEL, and the Crystallisation Facility.
Scientific Highlights
PILATUS4 detector arrives at PXIII
On April 4, 2025, a Dectris Pilatus4 2M detector was successfully installed at beamline PXIII. In the coming weeks, this new detector will be used to measure the first macromolecular crystallography (MX) experiments using the SLS 2.0 machine.
Bright white coloring of Pacific cleaner shrimp revelead
In a study published in Nature Photonics, researchers at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, explain the bright, white-colored stripes from Pacific cleaner shrimps, one of the most efficient white reflectors found in nature.
Progress of the X06DA-PXIII beamline upgrade: First light in the optics hutch
On June 7, 2023, the PXIII project team successfully shone the first light into the optics hutch at the upgraded X06DA-PXIII beamline. It is an essential first step for testing new hardware and software solutions that will be implemented at SLS2.0.