This study reports a solution structural investigation of the Cqm1–BinB protein complex using `contrast-matched' small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). The SANS data clearly reveal that BinB binds to the receptor Cqm1 and alters its oligomeric status from a dimer to a monomer.

Using small-angle neutron scattering with contrast-matching of the lipidic cubic phase (LCP) bilayer, we determined that bacteriorhodopsin (bR) and detergents are largely dissociated upon incorporation into the LCP. This implies that the crystallization of membrane proteins in LCP is relatively insensitive to the choice of detergent, unlike the solution case, and this was experimentally verified with several detergents for bR.

Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) provides structural information on biological macromolecules in solution that is perfectly complementary to the information obtained using other structural biology techniques, including crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance and electron microscopy. Compared with its sister technique small-angle X-ray scattering, SANS allows specific and individual information to be obtained on subunits within important heterogeneous biological assemblies such as multiprotein or protein–RNA/DNA complexes as well as solubilized membrane proteins.

Originally conceived for protein crystallography, contrast variation has become a favourite tool of small-angle scattering. Recent developments in contrast variation are reviewed.

This work reports a novel methodology to extract quantitative information from small-angle neutron scattering measurements of nanoporous alumina.

Contrast variation small-angle neutron scattering by dynamic nuclear polarization is applied to industrial multi-component nanocomposites.

A robust high-temperature high-pressure cell with a metal window for small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) experiments has been developed. This cell enables in situ SANS experiments on materials within sub- and supercritical water environments.

This research uses contrast-matched small-angle neutron scattering to investigate the adsorption behaviour of deuterated methane in a silica aerogel in the pressure range from 0 to 1000 bar. The results reveal a classical reversible two-phase adsorption in the 2.5–50 nm pore size region and no evidence of condensation in the sub-nanometre pores.

An updated template reporting table based on the 2017 publication guidelines for biomolecular SAS and 3D modelling is presented that includes standard descriptions for proteins, glycosylated proteins, DNA and RNA, and some reorganization of the data to improve readability and interpretation. A specialized template has also been developed for reporting SAS contrast-variation data and models that incorporates the additional reporting requirements for these more complicated experiments.

This article describes experimental work demonstrating how dark-field neutron imaging can provide quantitative characterization of structures in the micrometre range which are not amenable to direct real space resolution.