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The world's most modern storage-ring-based synchrotron radiation source, PETRA III, was inaugurated in November at the Hamburg site of DESY, a Helmholtz Association research centre.

Scientists expect PETRA III to provide new insights into the structure of matter. "The facility in Hamburg offers unique prospects," said Federal Research Minister Prof. Dr. Annette Schavan (BMBF). Acknowledging the work of the DESY team headed by Professor Edgar Weckert, she said, "PETRA III has now been upgraded after thirty months, on budget and on time. I look forward to the discoveries that PETRA III can produce with X-ray light."

PETRA III opens up a number of new opportunities, especially in structural biology. This year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry shows how important this field is. Ada Yonath was one of the laureates who decoded the structure of ribosomes at DESY from 1986 to 2004. "I welcome the plans to build a Centre for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB) close to PETRA III," said Schavan. "Collaboration between physicists, biologists and infection researchers offers great opportunities for important medical applications." Dr. Herlind Gundelach, Hamburg's Senator for matters of Science and Research said: "Interdisciplinary projects between university and non-university research facilities are a trademark of Hamburg’s scientific infrastructure. PETRA's upgrade and the new experimental hall were jointly funded by the Federal Government and the city of Hamburg with 233 million euros. Hamburg contributed 10% and the Federal Government 90% of the budget. BMBF provided an additional 12.2 million euros for experiments in the current funding period to give scientists from German universities the chance to maximise their research with PETRA III.

DESY press and information office: Thomas Zoufal, Tel: +49 40 8998-1666

More information: http://zms.desy.de