WHO:  Adam Hitchcock, Daniel Hernández Cruz, BIMR, McMaster University;  
             Marie-Eve Rousseau, Michel Pézolet, Université Laval
               
WHERE:  Advanced Light Source  BL 5.3.2  Scanning Transmission X-ray Microscope (STXM)
 
WHEN:   spring 2006                POSTED:  08 December 2006
 
WHAT:  The linear dichroism (polarization dependence) of the C 1s to p*(peptide) transition in the silk protein of silk worm and spiders has been measured at high spatial reoslution with STXM. The angle dependent intensities are converted to maps of the spatial distributions of the ß-sheets in the silk fibers. The ß-sheet crystallites act as reinforceing elements and thus help control the strength and elasticity of the fiber. We are usng STXM and micro-Raman to help unravel the spider web, with the ultimate goal of assisting efforts to make synthetic materials with similar properties.

REFERENCE: Hernández Cruz et al, Biomacromolecules, 7 (2006) 836; Rousseau et al, JACS 129 (2007) 3897-3905.

WANT FURTHER INFORMATION ? Contact Adam Hitchcock