Biological infrared microspectroscopy at the National Synchrotron Light Source

Beamline U2B at the National Synchrotron Light Source has been designed and built as an infrared beamline dedicated to the study of biomedical problems. In 1997, the horizontal and vertical acceptances of Beamline U2B were increased in order to increase the overall flux of the beamline. A wedged, CVD diamond window separates the UHV vacuum of the VUV ring from the rough vacuum of the beamline. The endstation consists of a Nicolet Magna 860 step-scan FTIR and a NicPlan infrared microscope. The spectrometer is equipped with beamsplitter/detector combinations that permit data collection in the mid- and far-infrared regions. We have also made provisions for mounting an external detector (e.g. bolometer) for far infrared microspectroscopy. Thus far, Beamline U2B has been used to (1) perform chemical imaging of bone tissue and brain cells to address issues related to bone disease and epilepsy, respectively, and (2) examine time-resolved protein structure in the sub-millisecond folding of cytochrome c.