“Optical fingerprints” on an electron beam

Researchers observe non-linear optical processes in the electron microscope

17-Jan-2024 - The precise control of electron beams in so-called transmission electron microscopes (TEM) makes it possible to analyze materials or molecules at the atomic level. Combined with short light pulses, these devices can also be used to analyze dynamic processes. Researchers from Göttingen and ...

Extreme DNA resolution: Researchers slow down and scan multiple times individual DNA molecules

Researchers have achieved near-perfect control over the manipulation of individual molecules, allowing them to be identified and characterized with unprecedented precision

30-Jun-2023 - Aleksandra Radenovic, head of theLaboratory of Nanoscale Biologyin the School of Engineering, has worked for years to improve nanopore technology, which involves passing a molecule like DNA through a tiny pore in a membrane to measure an ionic current. Scientists can determine DNA’s sequence of ...

Cryo-imaging lifts the lid on fuel cell catalyst layers

First insights into the nanostructure of platinum catalyst layers

27-Apr-2023 - Thanks to a novel combination of cryogenic transmission electron tomography and deep learning, EPFL researchers have provided a first look at the nanostructure of platinum catalyst layers, revealing how they could be optimized for fuel cell efficiency. Proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC), ...

Monitoring gene activities in living cells

Cell Biopsy instead of cell lysis

19-Aug-2022 - Researchers from ETH Zurich and EPFL are expanding the emerging field of single-​cell analysis with a ground-​breaking method: Live-​seq makes it possible to measure the activity of thousands of genes in a single cell without having to isolate and destroy it. Modern biology is increasingly ...

Tracking chirality in real time

“These ground-breaking experiments show that time-resolved circular dichroism is uniquely suited to capture the molecular motion that drives many (bio)chemical processes”

01-Jun-2022 - Scientists at EPFL have developed a new laser-based technique that can measure ultrafast changes in the structural symmetry of molecules, called chirality, tracking their conformational shifts in real time. In a collaboration with researchers from the Universities of Geneva and Pisa, the ...

Molecular device turns infrared into visible light

Breakthrough ushers in a new class of compact sensors for thermal imaging and chemical or biological analysis

06-Dec-2021 - Light is an electromagnetic wave: it consists of oscillating electric and magnetic fields propagating through space. Every wave is characterized by its frequency, which refers to the number of oscillations per second, measured in Hertz (Hz). Our eyes can detect frequencies between 400 and 750 ...

Carbyne – an unusual form of carbon

International team of researchers investigates optical band gap of carbon compound

13-Nov-2020 - Which photophysical properties does carbyne have? This was the subject of research carried out by scientists at FAU, the University of Alberta, Canada, and the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland, which has led to a greater understanding of the properties of this unusual form ...

Visualizing chemical reactions

On the way to synthetic fuels

10-Jan-2020 - Researchers at the joint EPFL-Empa lab in Sion have developed a reactor system and an analysis method that has allowed them to observe the real-time production of synthetic natural gas from CO2 and H2 for the first time. Infrared (IR) thermography is used to determine the temperature of humans ...

Predicting a protein's behavior from its appearance

11-Dec-2019 - Proteins are the building blocks of life and play a key role in all biological processes. Understanding how they interact with their environment is therefore vital to developing effective therapeutics and the foundation for designing artificial cells. Researchers at the Laboratory of Protein ...

On the way to nanotheranostics

10-Jul-2019 - Theranostics is an emerging field of medicine whose name is a combination of "therapeutics" and "diagnostics". The idea behind theranostics is to combine drugs and/or techniques to simultaneously - or sequentially - diagnose and treat medical conditions, and also monitor the response of the ...