Newsletter 01/2014

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X-ray study at PETRA III reveals workings of potential alternative to antibiotics

Electron microscope image of a Clostridium difficile bacterium. (Credit: Jennifer Hulsey/CDC)

How viruses kill diarrhoea bacteria
Research at DESY's X-ray light source PETRA III reveals how certain viruses called bacteriophages kill the potentially life threatening diarrhoea bacterium Clostridium difficile. The study by scientists of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Hamburg shows how enzymes of these viruses are triggered and released to degrade the cell walls of the bacteria. The work opens up new opportunities for developing effective bacteriophage therapies, as the researchers led by EMBL Group Leader Rob Meijers write in the scientific journal PLoS Pathogens.

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Leading scientists appointed for PETRA III and FLASH

Wilfried Wurth (left) and Christian Schroer (right) at the DESY Photon Science Users´ Meeting.

Christian Schroer and Wilfried Wurth have joined the DESY team as new leading scientists. Christian Schroer assumes the leadership of the scientific programme of DESY’s synchrotron radiation source PETRA III, Wilfried Wurth becomes scientific head of the free-electron laser FLASH. Both scientists have been working as users at DESY’s light sources for a long time, and made important contributions in the field of instrumentation. “With Christian Schroer and Wilfried Wurth, we were able to win two highly competent synchrotron radiation research experts for DESY,” said DESY research director Edgar Weckert. “They will make our two light sources PETRA III and FLASH more attractive for the international user community and definitely strengthen our internal research programme.”

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