Credit: ORNL/Genevieve Martin
Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis and ORNL are using neutrons to study what happens when cyanobacteria cell samples (pictured) are starved for nitrogen. They are especially interested in how this process affects phycobilisomes, large antenna protein complexes in the cells that harvest light for photosynthesis. A better understanding of this natural phenomenon could lead to improvements in artificial resources like solar panels.