Ritva Serimaa, Professor
Department of Physics
X-Ray Laboratory
University of Helsinki
PO Box 64, FI-00014 Helsinki
Phone: +358-9-191-50630
Fax: +358-9-191-50639
Graduate students:
Inkeri Kontro

Recent projects on biomaterials include structural studies of proteins in aqueous solution (Calmodulin and Troponin C), hydrophobins HFBI and HFBII from Trichoderma reesei in solution and in the solid state, the virus phi6, starch, and the polymeric structures of the wood cell wall. In all these projects, scattering methods are applied to study the nanometer range structure or self-assembly of the materials in the non-crystalline state. For materials which are not crystalline by nature, by such methods important information on their structure/function relationship is obtained.

The research facilities include several modern diffractometers forwide-angle x-ray scattering (WAXS) of powder like materials and thin films and a setup for small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) studies. Scattering experiments can be performed as a function of temperature. Research using synchrotron radiation and neutrons is carried-out in Hasylab, Hamburg, ESRF, Grenoble, and ILL, Grenoble.