BIOCARS--A SYNCHROTRON STRUCTURAL BIOLOGY RESOURCE

We wish to design, construct and operate a single sector at the Advanced
Photon Source (APS) under construction at Argonne National Laboratory.
The sector will consist of an undulator and wiggler source, a bending
magnet source, associated x-ray optical elements, beam transport, three
hutches, a BL3 biohazards facility, and experimental apparatus suitable
for five different styles of experiments in structural biology: virus
crystallography, small angle scattering, protein
crystallography/multiple wavelength anomalous dispersion, time-resolved
diffraction, and diffraction from microcrystals. The sector will be
operated for the 29-member group of structural biologists denoted
BioCARS (roughly 75% of the available beamtime) and for general users
(roughly 25%). Technological research and development will concentrate on: X-ray
optics, including transmission optics and cooling schemes that will
enable the optics to withstand the high heat loads imposed by the
insertion device sources without significant degradation of their
properties; storage phosphor and other detectors; sample handling
devices such as liquid helium cryostats and thin film crystal mounts;
software for efficient, user-friendly data acquisition, reduction and
storage of both static and time-resolved data; and, novel experimental
techniques. Collaborative and service projects will encompass X-ray diffraction from
single crystals and from less-ordered membranes, fibers and solutions.
Particular emphasis will be placed on crystals with very large unit
cells such as viruses, and on time-resolved studies on time scales down
to and including the x-ray pulse length at the APS, around 100 ps.
These studies exploit the unique properties of the APS: its brilliance,
intensity, and dedicated availability. Prior to the start-up of the APS
in 1995-96, initial experiments and tests of X-ray equipment will be
conducted at the National Synchrotron Light Source, on beam line X26C. BioCARS forms an integral part of the interdisciplinary Consortium for
Advanced Radiation Sources, CARS. CARS consist of three universities
(The University of Chicago, Northern Illinois University, and Southern
Illinois University) and four national scientific groups, in structural
biology (BioCARS), the earth and planetary sciences (GeoCARS), chemical
sciences (ChemCARS) and soil and environmental science
(Soil/EnviroCARS). CARS at present consists of 97 principal
investigators, and is a Collaborative Access Team (CAT) which proposes
to develop and operate two sectors at the APS, of which this request is
for support of one. Substantial facilities, obtained with State and
University support, are already in place or committed, including design,
construction, X-ray, and metrology laboratories.