DESY The Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron is one of the world leading accelerator centres for investigating the structure of matter. Researchers use the large-scale facilities at DESY to explore the microcosm in all its variety – from the interactions of tiny elementary particles and the behaviour of new types of nanomaterials to biomolecular processes that are essential to life.

The DESY campus hosts several large, international and regional collaborations, like the Centre for X-ray and Nano Science (CXNS), the Centre for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL), the Centre for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB), the Centre for Hybrid Nanostructures (CHYN) and very recently the Center for Data and Computing in Natural Science (CDCS), the Center for Integrated Multiscale Materials Systems (CIMMS) and the Centre for Molecular Water Science (CMWS) all together with the University of Hamburg. Therefore, the DESY site offers ideal prerequisites to be a nucleation centre for developing new emerging ideas on nanoscience.

DESY operates PETRA III, one of the world's brightest storage-ring-based X-ray radiation sources. PETRA III offers scientists outstanding opportunities for experiments with X-rays of exceptionally high brilliance. The DESY NanoLab as part of the CXNS provides on-site methods for nanoscience complementary to the advanced X-ray sources PETRA III, FLASH and X-FEL and is operated by the DESY Research Group X-ray Physics and Nanoscience as a facility for users and for in-house research.