Metallomics & Plants
Metallomics is an emerging field studying the distribution and role of metals in biological systems. This field has been growing as a result of improved understanding of the essential roles that metals play in almost every biological process (approximately a third of all biological pathways involve at least one metal) and due to recent advances in metal-based drugs.
Sigray’s AttoMap was originally designed for life science research with support of NIH funding. The AttoMap-310 in particular is optimized for biological samples because it provides the ability to acquire variable angles of incidence for the x-ray beam through the system’s integration of a goniometer stage. Low angle of incidence illumination is important for many thin biological specimens because at normal (90 degree) incidences, x-rays will transmit through the sample. By incorporating a goniometer that enables imaging at low angles of incidence, the proposed system maximizes the efficiency of the incident x-rays which must travel a longer path length through the sample.
