Diphtheria is a potentially lethal respiratory disease that is fairly well controlled by vaccines discovered early last century. These vaccines have been extremely effective; studies on one vaccine in particular, the nontoxic form of the diphtheria toxin (DT), have informed other vaccines. Recently, researchers solved several structures of a nontoxic DT using data obtained at ALS Beamline 5.0.3, resolving a long-standing scientific puzzle and leading the way to even better vaccines for a variety of bacterial diseases.
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