HDR (high dynamic range) photograph of the Max von Laue building, the first experimental hall of the PETRA III synchrotron facility. It is home to more than a dozen beamlines and numerous instruments that attract a few thousand researchers each year for their experiments.

Molecular biologists, for example, use the X-rays produced by PETRA III to explore the spatial atomic structure of protein crystals. An important application is the development of new medications that can be targeted precisely at the location where a pathogen attacks. To this end, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory EMBL constructed an integrated research facility for structural biology at PETRA III. Its three state-of-the-art measuring stations decidedly speed up research on molecules that make the difference between human health and disease.

The Max von Laue building was inaugorated in 2012 by German chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel.

(With material from desy.de.)