New SLAC facility aims to improve treatment of diseases
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park has opened a new facility it says will allow researchers to study the interior of living cells in greater detail than ever before, possibly leading to cures for diseases, improved vaccines and better biofuels.
The sky may indeed be the limit, according to Wah Chiu, who has been working in the field of cryogenic electron microscopy for the past 40 years. Though he calls it science fiction now, he envisions a time when advances in the technology will allow people to be tested and treated for cancers similar to the CT scan before they lead to complications.
“With lung cancer, we often don’t know they have it until they get sick, but by then it’s too late to do anything,” Chiu said. “Now that we have new tools, we will have new discovery and that discovery will possibly be key to cure cancer.”
While that’s still theoretical, Chiu, one of two Stanford professors hired last year to operate the facility, recalls how fellow scientists used to scoff at his idea of viewing detailed 3-D images of DNA, viruses and inner workings of cells going back to the 1970s. Those same researchers are now clamoring to use devices such as those in SLAC’s new facility, he said.
What is certain, Chiu said, is the new facility will lead to the creation of medication to treat diseases more quickly and better because scientists will now understand what is going on inside mutated cells at the atomic level.
The facility is also the only one in the nation that features four of the new state-of-the-art cryogenic electron microscopes, which Chiu said cost between $4 million and $6 million each. He said there are a few research institutes in
the U.K., Germany and China that have as many microscopes, but SLAC plans to keep buying the devices, as well as introduce the next generation of microscopes within the next few years. The facility, equipment and two new professors are funded by SLAC, the Stanford president’s office and the School of Medicine.
One goal of the new facility is for its devices to be used by outside researchers on collaborative projects, as well as for training future biologists and chemists. One of the microscopes can be used remotely and scientists from pharmaceutical companies will be invited to use the equipment, Chiu said.
“I cannot solve all medical problems on my own, but now there will be hundreds or thousands (researching it),” he said. “Now it is a common tool.”
The facility could also lead to advances in plant-based research such as the development of better biofuels and biomaterials and improved soil fertility by providing answers to “complicated interactions of fungi and other organisms in the root zones of plants,” according to a SLAC news release.
Contact Kevin Kelly at 650-391-1049.