Credit: Marius Schmidt / University of Wisconsin Milwaukee
In a liquid droplet (represented by the light blue circle), an antibiotic disperses through a crystallized protein, beta-lactamase, and binds to it. X-ray snapshots of the bound pair allowed researchers to create maps of the electron density (green) and watch a ring in the antibiotic break open (far right) 30 to 500 milliseconds after the reaction began.