SSRL is a general user facility with a small
number of PRT beam lines. General user beam
lines are scheduled with 100% access for a broad
user community from Universities, National Laboratories
and industry. PRT beam lines provide typically
33% of their time to general users and the remaining
to the participating research teams. Beam time
is awarded on a peer-reviewed basis via proposals
submitted to the SSRL User Administration.
The Structural Molecular Group (SMB) at SSRL
is responsible for the operation of 8 beam lines,
of which five are dedicated to macromolecular
crystallography, two to x-ray absorption spectroscopy
and one to small angle x-ray scattering. Additional
time for XAS is provided on shared beam lines.
The Macromolecular Crystallography Group at SSRL operates
and develops state-of-the-art macromolecular crystallographic facilities
for visiting researchers. Of the six beamlines currently operational, two
(BL9-2 and BL1-5) are designed for MAD experiments. Two side stations
(BL9-1 and BL11-1) are also MAD capable at slightly reduced energy resolution and one (BL11-3) oprerates at a fixed energy above the Se K edge. BL7-1 became tunable in the spring of 2007. The group is developing
a collaboratory approach to synchrotron radiation
research, which allows scientists remote access
to experiments from their home institutions.
SSRL beamline 4-2 is dedicated to biological small angle x-ray scattering and diffraction studies, and is part of the structural molecular biology (SMB) user facilities. The current instrument features stat-of-the-art experimental facilities for solution scatterig, lipid membrane diffraction, fiber diffraction and single crystal diffraction at moderately high to very small scattering angles in the characteristic length of the order of microns to a few Angstroms allowing structural studies of biological macromolecules and assemblies in physiological or near physiological conditions. It is also a premier facility for time-resolved studies in the millisecond time scale and above.
The XAS group provides instrumentation (detectors, cryostats, data acquisition and analysis software) and operates two wiggler beam lines dedicated for SMB research. Special capabilities exist for measurements in the soft energy region for the studies of sulfur and chlorine in biological systems
is part of the second phase of the Protein Structure Initiative (PSI) funded by the NIH. The JCSG is a multi-institutional consortium with a mission to operate a robust HT protein structure determination pipeline. It has a major goal of ensuring that innovatitive high-throughput approaches are developed that advance not only structural genomics, but also structural biology in general, via investigation of large numbers of high-value structures that populate protein fold and family space and by increasing the efficiency of structure determination at substantially reduced cost.
