Station for structural studies on macro objects: beamline 6C Bio Medical Imaging at the Pohang Light Source-II

Similar to macromolecular crystallography (MX), radiography uses X-rays to reveal structures, however, of macro objects, which can be several orders of magnitude larger in size than the subjects of MX. Beamline 6C Bio Medical Imaging of the Pohang Light Source-II (PLS-II) utilizes synchrotron radiation X-rays to implement parallel beam projection radiography. Major applications are virtual anatomy of small animals and plants, non-invasive physiological monitoring and 3D histology in biology and medicine. Uses in material science and defect analysis of industrial products are also becoming popular. In this review, the use of the beamline is introduced including sample preparation, data acquisition and a workflow for 3D image reconstruction, visualization and analysis. For biologists who are familiar with MX, a brief comparison has been made between the two techniques. The mechanisms for spatial resolution determination and contrast formation in the parallel beam projection radiography are also presented.